Digital Operational Resilience: Renew Europe supports a flexible, proportional and future proof regulation

Today, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has adopted the regulation on Digital Operational Resilience for the financial sector (DORA). Under this technical wording, there is an important text for the financial sector. Renew Europe supports this regulation and is convinced that this package will encourage the EU to embrace the digital revolution and help innovative European companies while ensuring the cyber resilience of our financial entities. This vote on DORA comes shortly after the votes on the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) and the Critical Entities Resilience Directive (CER) in their respective committees. Once adopted, this set of rules (to which DORA is a key part) will provide the Union with a strong and legal framework for fighting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) risk and preventing cyber-attacks against entities and other incidents.

“All political groups worked hard to find a consensus on DORA. The next steps, trilogues with Council and Commission, must maintain the momentum generated in Parliament. Citizens, consumers and industry expect a timely and efficient implementation of this important piece of legislation", declared Billy Kelleher, rapporteur on this file in ECON Committee and Member of Renew Europe.

With this regulation, the EU wants to provide the EU’s financial sector with all the necessary safeguards against cyber-attacks and all the other potential risks it face regarding the provision of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service by third parties. Renew Europe, through its rapporteur Billy Kelleher, has made every effort to make this framework flexible, proportional and future proof. Indeed, the EU’s financial sector evolves very quickly and the EU's digital regulation should be ready to cope with innovation and future challenges. Renew Europe also welcomes the introduction of a Joint Oversight Body as a means to improve the oversight on critical providers of information and communication technologies (ICT) for European financial institutions.

“Increasingly, the financial services sector is becoming more digitalised, and with these developments comes increased ICT risks in the sector. The negotiating position taken by Parliament this week strikes a balance between developing robust digital resilience in the sector and ensuring that innovation is not stifled and that the EU’s competitiveness is preserved. It also ensures a holistic approach so that there are no parts of the sector considered to be a weak link.

“The proposed legislation has taken an ambitious step by using a two-pronged strategy to addressing ICT risk by identifying and managing risk at the ICT service provider level and also at the level of the financial entity itself”, added Billy Kelleher MEP.