ENISA updates international strategy to strengthen EU cybersecurity cooperation
The revised international strategy aligns ENISA’s external engagement with EU cybersecurity policy, focusing on partnerships that support a higher common level of cybersecurity across the Union.
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA, has adopted an updated International Strategy to reinforce cooperation with partners outside the European Union. Announced on 9 February 2026, the revised strategy aligns ENISA’s international engagement more closely with the EU’s broader cybersecurity policies and external action priorities.
The document confirms that ENISA’s cooperation beyond the EU is driven by a single objective: raising cybersecurity levels within the Union. Engagement with third countries is therefore framed as instrumental to ENISA’s mandate rather than an expansion of it. According to ENISA Executive Director Juhan Lepassaar, international cooperation is intended to complement and strengthen the agency’s core task of achieving a high common level of cybersecurity across EU member states.
The updated strategy prioritises cooperation with partners that share EU values and maintain strategic relationships with the Union. Current and planned areas of engagement include tailored working arrangements with countries such as Ukraine and the United States, focusing on capacity development and exchange of best practices. ENISA also supports the European Commission and the European External Action Service in EU cyber dialogues with partners, including Japan and the United Kingdom.
A further strand of cooperation targets EU candidate countries in the Western Balkans. From 2026, ENISA plans to extend specific frameworks and tools to the region, including comparative cyber indexes, exercise methodologies and training initiatives. The strategy also foresees operationalising the EU Cybersecurity Reserve, established under the 2025 EU Cyber Solidarity Act, for third countries associated with the Digital Europe Programme, such as Moldova.
In addition, ENISA will contribute expertise to the G7 Cybersecurity Working Group and explore collaboration with other like-minded partners. The strategy consolidates principles and working modalities developed since ENISA’s first international strategy in 2021, clarifying coordination with the European Commission, the European External Action Service and EU member states.
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