Remarks by Executive Vice-President Virkkunen and Commissioner Brunner on the EU Critical Communication System

Executive Vice-President Virkkunen:

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's read-out of the College meeting.

Today, we adopted two proposals linked to the establishment of an EU Critical Communication System for first responders.

Today's proposal is about Europe's impact in the ground. When Europe faced fire, floods and major security threats, it´s first line responders defended it. Firefighters, doctors, police, entire rescue teams risked their lives so that lives could be saved. 

They have done so with the strongest dedication that we could all see. When fire and flood and other disasters are raging we know that time is crucial. Every second counts.

But these heroes are often met with real operational obstacles because natural disasters, major industrial accidents, and security threats do not respect national boundaries. Our immediate  operational response cannot afford to either.

When such crises and tragedies occur, we need fast, reliable and secure communication. 

While Member States have robust national emergency networks, these systems often stop at the border. This is a critical operational gap when teams are deployed side by side across countries.

This what this proposal is about: We will ensure that our emergency services have the means to exchange critical data and issue real-time operational instructions across borders without interruption.  So that they can save lives and have all the support needed. 

Concretely - the European Union Critical Communication System, the EUCCS will support more than 5 million first responders across Europe in their daily life-saving work and in major emergency situations. 

It will strengthen Europe's capacity to respond not only to largescale crises or terrorism, but also to everyday incidents: accidents, fires, missing persons cases, and crime.

Our approach is pragmatic: The EU will not create one central system to manage all data. Member States remain fully in control of their own critical communication infrastructures, while ensuring mandatory interoperability at European level. It will include all emergency services.

The system is designed to adapt alongside evolving commercial and critical communication technologies. The Commission will support Member States in cooperating with industry and research organisations to ensure the continuous innovation of critical communication in the EU.  

A first group of Member States will begin operations in 2030 and other will follow gradually, with all Member States connected by 2036. 

This phased approach reflects the different stages of national transition to broadband critical communications. 
EUCCS is built on European-made critical technologies — from satellites to core mobile networks and mobile broadband.

EUCCS is also closely linked to key electronic communications initiatives, including the Digital Networks Act, the MSS Regulation, the Cybersecurity Act 2 and the 5G Toolbox.

We will also align with the EU's IRIS² programme to leverage secure and reliable satellite connectivity across Europe and beyond.

With EUCCS, our first responders will be able to share data, video, messages and geolocation in real-time through a single secure device.

Thanks to the move to broadband technologies, building on 5G commercial networks, the EUCCS will enable multiple ways to provide critical communication services to Member States.

This means being able to ensure communications when they are most needed, also when terrestrial networks are non-operational.

Satellite communications can fill that gap. It is why we provided that the EUCCS will have access to secure connectivity services provided over satellite.

Europe's security depends on our ability to act together. When crisis strikes, our first responders must be able to communicate instantly across agencies, across borders, across Europe. 

When lives are at stake, Europe must respond as one. We are protecting what matters most — the lives of our citizens — by connecting those who protect us.  

Thank you, now over to Magnus. 

***

Commissioner Brunner:

Thank you, Henna. Today, we deliver on another proposal that makes our Union stronger. Step by step, we are delivering on our internal security strategy, ProtectEU.

Today, we deliver another key proposal: the EU Critical Communication System. It connects those who protect us.

Wherever there is a crisis, first responders need to have one basic thing: a line of communication.

There are plenty of examples over the last years, where this was not possible.

Take the High Venn fires from this summer: it was in the border region between Belgium and Germany, and the moment a first responder had to cross the border, their radio stopped working.

That is why today's proposal matters: we are building a common European critical communications system.

It will be seamless, secure and sovereign.

Today's proposal does two things:

First, it lets first responders share data, video and messages in real time, through a single device.

As in the High Venn this summer, we see wildfires spread across our continent: in Spain, in France, in Greece, in Germany. We already have a system so that firefighters from different countries work together to stop the disaster.

But they still have to look for ad-hoc solutions just to share their location.

With the EUCCS, they share voice, video and position. On one device.

Second, the systems are interconnected.

In February last year, there was a shooting in the Netherlands, 200 meters from the Belgian border.

An active police chase across the border started, where every minute counted. Yet the operational centre in Maastricht could not directly alert its colleagues in Liège, or the Belgian officers on the street.

Cross-border police work is also where the new Europol mandate makes a difference, by supporting Member States.

And the EUCCS gives the officers on the ground the communications to match.

One device. One network. Every agency, every Member State, connected.

A communication system is only as good as its worst day, when everything else is failing.

As Henna mentioned, the EUCCS uses new broadband technology such as 5G, with EU satellites providing back-up where mobile communications are down.

Think of the blackout in Spain and Portugal last year. The lights went out and the phones went dead at the same time.

With the EUCCS, police and emergency services would have stayed connected, because the satellites take over when the ground networks fail.

And we are planning to deploy mobile communications assets – cell towers on a truck, with their own generators – to disaster areas.

Think back to Valencia in 2024. The floods knocked out power and telecommunications, emergency alerts were delayed, and teams from France, Portugal and across Spain arrived with their own equipment, but no common procedures to connect it.

With the EUCCS, this will change.

And we will make sure that the new system is protected against attacks. We will establish two new centres: one to monitor the network, providing one central connection point instead of building many separate links, and one to track cyber security risks and other threats.

This system is built for Europe, by Europe. European companies and technology are building this network, strengthening our autonomy and resilience.

And by setting one standard across our 27 Member States, it creates a genuine market.

That's what sovereignty looks like in practice – not just protection, but creating a market, jobs and innovation in Europe.