Kallas: The EU must coordinate its response to hybrid attacks

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that the proposed emergency security protocol should complement NATO’s existing mechanisms, not duplicate them.

Speaking after the EU defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Kallas said member states held the first discussion on the mechanism, which aims to coordinate the response to so-called grey-zone or hybrid attacks.

“We also need to work on the emergency protocol because there must be no duplication,” Kallas said, stressing that the mechanism should function in parallel with NATO, without creating separate structures.

Kallas said she had also discussed the issue with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

According to her, the EU protocol would focus on the tools that can be used in case of aggression that falls short of an armed attack and stays below the threshold of NATO’s Article 5, which provides for collective defence.

Kallas distinguished this mechanism from NATO’s Article 4, which enables member states to hold consultations when an ally’s security is threatened. She said Article 4 is mainly about consultations, while the EU proposal would concretely consider the measures member states could take in response to hybrid attacks.