The National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest hosted the ad-hoc expert meeting of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector – CF SEDSS, held in Bucharest on 27–28 May 2026 and organised under the aegis of the European Defence Agency.
The meeting brought together representatives of defence ministries from European countries, energy experts, and specialists involved in the Forum’s activities. Topics discussed included civil-military cooperation in cybersecurity to protect critical infrastructure, geopolitical vulnerabilities and strategic dependencies, Europe’s vulnerability to resource shortages, including water scarcity, and their impact on critical infrastructure such as data centres. Another topic addressed was the security of nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMRs).
The Bucharest meeting aimed to prepare the deliverables for the first half of Phase IV. Expected outcomes include a prioritised list of vulnerabilities, initial strategic recommendations for defence ministries, classification criteria for critical energy infrastructure, and resilience indicators.
ICI Bucharest has been involved in CF SEDSS since 2017. Since 2019, a representative of the institute has moderated Working Group 3, dedicated to the protection of critical energy infrastructure. “For ICI Bucharest, hosting this meeting is a natural continuation of the work we have carried out for several years within CF SEDSS. The topics discussed show how important cooperation is among the defence, energy, research, and technical communities. Critical infrastructure protection can no longer be viewed separately from cybersecurity, strategic dependencies, or new technologies,” said Adrian-Victor Vevera, General Director of ICI Bucharest, in his opening remarks.
The event provided a setting for the technical and organisational discussions needed to continue the CF SEDSS work and prepare the documents to be submitted to the European Commission.
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