EU Network and Information Security (NIS) resolution officially published

In the blog post EU Network and Information Security (NIS) (27 December 2009) we presented the Council resolution and detailed preparatory work by the Commission, mentioning that the annexed resolution would be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), but that in the meantime we followed the Council document.


OJEU


Adhering to the principle to use the most authentic and official sources available, we can now announce the official publication of the Council resolution on NIS, which forms the tip of the iceberg:



COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 18 December 2009 on a collaborative European approach to Network and Information Security, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 29.12.2009 C 321/1.



NIS reasons


At the same time, we can repeat some of the reasons for the importance of NIS action noted by the Council:

II. NOTING THAT:

1. Given the importance of electronic communications, infrastructures and services as a basis of economic and social activity, Network and Information Security (NIS) contributes to important values and objectives in society, such as democracy, privacy, economic growth, the free flow of ideas, and economic and political stability;

2. Information and communication technology systems, infrastructures and services, including the Internet, play a vital role for society, and their disruption has the potential to cause huge economic damage, underlining the importance of measures to increase protection and resilience aimed at ensuring continuation of critical services;

3. Security incidents risk undermining user confidence. While severe disruptions of networks and information systems could have a major economic and social impact, everyday problems and nuisances also risk eroding public confidence in technology, networks and services;

4. The threat landscape is evolving and growing, which increases the need to provide end-users, businesses and governments with electronic communications infrastructures that are robust and resilient by default and to identify the right incentives for the providers to do so in a timely manner;

5. There is a need to enhance and embed Network and Information Security in all policy areas and sectors of society, and to address the challenge of ensuring sufficient skills via both national and European actions and raising awareness among users of information and communication technology (ICT);

6. The completion and functioning of the Internal Market will require that network owners and service providers cooperate across borders, given that possible disruptive events in one Member State may also affect other Member States and the EU as a whole;

7. New usage patterns, such as cloud computing and software as a service, put additional emphasis on the importance of Network and Information Security;

8. Network and Information Security serves the objective of all parties, in all sectors of society, to be able to trust the information systems, therefore a cross-sector and cross-border approach is needed;

9. With the increasing use of ICT in society, Network and Information Security is a prerequisite for the reliable, safe and secure delivery of public services, such as e- Government;

10. ENISA has the potential to build on the important role it already plays in Network and Information Security.

Ralf Grahn



P.S. Read Coulisses de Bruxelles, by Jean Quatremer, and other great euroblogs listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, our common “village well” for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs.

New European Commission ─ Official proposal

Even if news travel instantly in the wired world, more or less accurately, we should not discount the importance of official records.

Just as there are national official gazettes (under different names), the European Union works under the rule of law, making laws and decisions based on the powers in the treaties, and publishing the results for the record.

If the media (aided by some crowd-pleasing parochial politicians) managed to present the nomination of the new Commission as a dramatic 27 nation tournament, with winners and losers, the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) serves students and other serious observers in another manner.

In general, students should look for primary sources. In addition, one can actually learn a thing or two about the legal framework, which led to the official outcome and will govern the next phases.



New Commission proposed

Let us take the list of proposed Commission members as an example:



COUNCIL DECISION, taken by common accord with the President-elect of the Commission, of 4 December 2009 adopting the list of the other persons whom the Council proposes for appointment as Members of the Commission (2009/903/EU), which was published OJEU 8.12.2009 L 321/51.


The decision has been taken by the Council of the European Union on 4 December 2009, after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force.

We see that the decision has been taken by common accord with the President-elect.

We see the special circumstances of the High Representative/Vice-President.

We are able to read a short history of the process.

The process, including the following steps, is outlined.

The term is until 31 October 2014.

All the names are recorded; not only “national champions”.

The decision refers to the legal base: Article 17(3) and (4) and (7), second subparagraph.



Legal base

The references to the treaty provisions offer us a framework for the decision and the next steps: Treaty on European Union TEU (0JEU 9.5.2008 C 115/25-26):

Article 17 TEU (excerpt)


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3. The Commission's term of office shall be five years.

The members of the Commission shall be chosen on the ground of their general competence and European commitment from persons whose independence is beyond doubt.

In carrying out its responsibilities, the Commission shall be completely independent. Without prejudice to Article 18(2), the members of the Commission shall neither seek nor take instructions from any Government or other institution, body, office or entity. They shall refrain from any action incompatible with their duties or the performance of their tasks.

4. The Commission appointed between the date of entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and 31 October 2014, shall consist of one national of each Member State, including its President and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy who shall be one of its Vice-Presidents.


-----

7. Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission. This candidate shall be elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its component members. If he does not obtain the required majority, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall within one month propose a new candidate who shall be elected by the European Parliament following the same procedure.

The Council, by common accord with the President-elect, shall adopt the list of the other persons whom it proposes for appointment as members of the Commission. They shall be selected, on the basis of the suggestions made by Member States, in accordance with the criteria set out in paragraph 3, second subparagraph, and paragraph 5, second subparagraph.

The President, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the other members of the Commission shall be subject as a body to a vote of consent by the European Parliament. On the basis of this consent the Commission shall be appointed by the European Council, acting by a qualified majority.

Conclusion

Just for the record…

The European Union is based on the treaties, now the amending Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009.

The treaties are of fundamental importance. All powers, new laws and decisions are based on the treaties, directly or derived from them. The EU is based on the rule of law.

Lacking immediacy and high drama, the official record of the European Union ─ the Official Journal ─ is more than a compilation of materials. The OJEU is an excellent teacher on how the EU functions.

In a world of bus passengers, the Lisbon Treaty is the manual for the drivers and auto mechanics.




Ralf Grahn



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You can access all the posts on the Posts page or concentrate on the editors’ choice of articles on the Home page. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future. Please, do.

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European Union Legal Materials (Columbia Law School)

Students of politics, law or economics need guidance on how to access material about the European Union as soon as they have to write or present something on their own.

One of the guides on offer is the Columbia Law School’s Arthur W. Diamond Law Library Research Guide: European Union Legal Materials, written by Duncan Alford and updated by Karin Johnsrud (latest update 30 January 2008).



Here are a few comments based on a cursory reading of the Research Guide on the resources:

• Under Brief overview, the words and the acronym for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) are presented in inverted order.
• The pillar structure has evolved, with justice and home affairs (JHA) migrating to the first (Community pillar), with the exception of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, which remain within the intergovernmental third pillar.
• Enlargement: There may be better definitions than mine, but since the big EU enlargement 2004 and 2007 I have tended to use the term Central Europe for the new member states (sometimes including historic ‘Mitteleuropa’ Germany and Austria), while leaving Eastern Europe for the countries between the EU and Russia. – But I am glad for comments and reasons.
• The enlargement process needs an update. Fresh information is available on the Commission’s website.
• Euro currency: There are now 16 Eurozone countries, with Slovakia the latest entrant. Sweden has no opt-out, but is de facto outside the Eurozone. I would recommend the web pages of the European Central Bank (ECB) for information to the general public (brochures etc.) and for serious information about the euro area.
• Constitution: The guide is in need of an update for the time since the ratification processes of the Constitutional Treaty petered out. This includes the 2007 intergovernmental conference, the December 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty (May 2008) and the state of the ratification processes.
• European Council and Council: Although the European Council (heads of state and government) would formally become an EU institution through the Treaty of Lisbon, it would be natural to admit its leadership role and treat it in tandem with the Council of the European Union.
• European Parliament: The EP has 736 directly elected members under the modified Treaty of Nice, still in force. The latest elections were held on 4 to 7 June 2009. The EP has powers to amend (not only approve; co-decision) legislative proposals, and if the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force, these powers would increase.
• European Council: See above. Heads of state (in practice Presidents, since Kings or Queens are nominal heads of state) or government (Prime Ministers) currently meet four times each year, but extraordinary meetings can be convened.
• European Court of Justice: The Civil Service Tribunal could be mentioned for staff cases.
• Committee of the Regions, Economic and Social Committee: The current membership is 344.
• Treaties: The most convenient link would be to the Treaties web page of Eur-Lex, with the consolidated version (2006) of the current treaties, including an Annex with the modifications through the 2007 accession of Bulgaria and Romania; the consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon (May 2008) as well as a selection of earlier treaties and accession treaties. – Generally, the improved Eur-Lex portal could be underlined as the primary source for EU law.
• Pre-Lex and the legislative Observatory could have been highlighted more as primary tools for following legislative procedures.
• The Eur-Lex Preparatory acts and the new Directory of Community legislation in preparation are worth mentioning.
• MEPs: The number of MEPs is 736, but grows if the Lisbon Treaty enters into force.
• Languages: Irish (Gaelic) has been added.

***
Conclusions

I scanned the contents and tested some of the links on offer, without rigorous checking.

The Columbia Research Guide: European Union Legal Materials is still a useful tool for the budding researcher, but an update of the contents and the links would be in order.

Personally, I would structure the materials around the general Europa portal and the legal Eur-Lex portal (starting from the index page). [I did not look into the print resources, the library’s collections or the commercial databases.]


Ralf Grahn

Bulletin of the European Union ─ EU information sources

Are you a student, researcher, journalist, politician (MEP candidate), lobbyist, official or an interested citizen in need of updated information about the European Union in a given policy area?

Google has long ago become a verb, but for systematic information there are other resources worth mentioning.

EU Bulletin

Yesterday, 23 April 2009 the Bulletin of the European Union for December 2008 was published online.



General Report

The annual General Report on the Activities of the European Union (latest for the year 2008) offers students and others an overview of developments and sources concerning different policy areas.

EU Bulletin – final version

The monthly Bulletins present updated information. The new Bulletin EU 12-2008 covers the month of December, and it is the final version.

EU Bulletin – provisional versions

Quicker updates are available on the Bulletin EU Home page. At this moment, two provisional versions are available: The January/February Bulletin was published 25 March 2009, and the March Bulletin 2009 was put online 23 April 2009 (so the time lag was only about three weeks).



Almost up-to-date

Taken together, the General Report and the Bulletin offer comprehensive information with detailed references for further study, leaving the researcher only a few weeks to explore from other sources, to be fully updated on an issue of major importance.

Once you have exact references, you may more easily find additional information on the web pages of the institutions, even the Council.

In addition, the EU Bulletin pages contain useful links to acronyms, a glossary, Pre-Lex with Commission proposals and summaries of existing legislation. (The links to the index and the cumulative index did not work.)

Official Journal

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is the primary source to use for official EU materials, especially final legislative acts and decisions.

News and discussion

If you need the latest news, you can go directly to the press releases by the EU institutions (Commission, European Parliament, Council etc.) or you can follow the specialised news services with additional coverage, such as EurActiv, EUobserver and EUbusiness. For discussion among EU citizens and civil society, you can access Bloggingportal.eu, which aggregates 345 Euroblogs.





Ralf Grahn