The French Presidency will lead negotiations in EU Council on dossiers of high relevance for public security in Europe – notably the European Commission’s proposals for a European Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act) and for a Directive on the Resilience of Critical Entities (CER Directive).

Since last year, CoESS is highly engaged in discussions around both dossiers:

• CER Directive: CoESS is engaged since 2019 with the EU institutions on this dossier, calling for important quality control provisions and the application of Standards when operators of Critical Infrastructure hire security companies. The report of the European Parliament proposes important improvements in this regard, as CoESS has highlighted in a paper in November. With regret, CoESS notices that these improvements do not feature in the general approach found in European Council and is thereby supported by its EU Social Partner UNI Europa in a Joint Statement. CoESS and GES therefore call on the French EU Council Presidency to accept respective amendments of the Parliament during inter-institutional negotiations.
• EU AI Act: The French Presidency will also have to build consensus on the European Commission’s proposal for a European Artificial Intelligence Act. AI is a ground-breaking technological development and needs an equally ambitious legal framework at EU level. In a Position Paper published on 20 December 2021, CoESS proposes important amendments in the proposal to create legal certainty and adapt it to realities in the security industry.

CoESS and GES count on the French EU Council Presidency to deliver on two of the most important EU security policy dossiers of the past years, but also to contribute to an exchange on how to improve regulation of security services at national level.

Both associations stand ready to offer their expertise to foster a resilient Union.

The full statement can be found in English here, and in French here.