The European Defence Agency (EDA), wanting to contribute further to EU security, organized on May 25-26 a hybrid threats tabletop exercise in Bulgaria, bringing together more than 80 experts from different European countries, institutions and organizations.

According to the relevant announcement, the exercise was carried out as part of the third phase of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS III), while EDA and the European Commission Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) also presented a new study on enhancing the resilience of critical energy infrastructure (CEI), related to defence against hybrid threats.

The study found that the Armed Forces must consider a new set of combined and blurred threats that can impair their operational effectiveness in war and peace. 

That scenario was also tested in the tabletop exercise, hosted by the Bulgarian Defence Institute (BDI), under the auspices of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence. 

In a fictitious scenario where an imaginary country threatens stability around a critical waterway with both non-renewable and renewable energy resources, EU countries and their partners needed to protect their energy supplies and advance their interests.  

The tabletop exercise is part of efforts to develop the EU’s longer-term resilience, in view of a synchronized and deliberate attack on democratic states and their institutions. 

The exercise relied on a simulation involving fictional hostile states as well as criminal and paramilitary organizations who sought to undermine or damage targets through direct attacks and covert means. 

Different European ministries, EU institutions, the Helsinki Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (HCoE) and experts from industry and academia aimed to better understand hybrid threats, including new tactics and targets and strengthen the resilience of defence-related critical energy infrastructure. 

They also plan to provide the Ministries of Defence with recommendations and develop awareness about the role individuals, civil society and companies can play in building resilience to hybrid threats.

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