Europe’s Critical Infrastructure and Its Vulnerabilities — Promises, Problems, Paradoxes

Abstract

Critical infrastructure (CI) can be damaged, destroyed, or disrupted by deliberate acts of terrorism, natural disasters, negligence, accidents, computer hacking, criminal activity, and malicious behaviour. To save the lives and property of people at risk in the EU [European Union]… any disruptions or manipulations of CI should, to the extent possible, be brief, infrequent, manageable, geographically isolated… The recent terrorist attacks in Madrid and London have highlighted the risk of terrorist attacks against European infrastructure. The EU’s response must be swift, coordinated, and efficient.¹