Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
According to a joint press release issued in Brussels by the federal institutions, the EU Integrated 2024 exercise, a joint exercise co-led by the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European External Action Service, has been successfully concluded.
The European statement explained that over the past six months, the European Union has planned and tested its comprehensive preparedness and capacity to manage complex crises. This year's edition of the exercise has significantly enhanced the EU's ability to respond to potential hybrid crises, both inside and outside the EU.
Starting on 30 September, the exercise was launched in two consecutive phases. The first phase focused on planning a military operation and coordinating the Common Security and Defence Policy during a consular crisis. The second phase consisted of a series of multi-level simulation scenarios of a hybrid nature, including the evacuation of EU citizens from a conflict zone.
The EU institutions, bodies and agencies, 24 EU Member States, Canada, the United States and Norway, actively participated in the exercise, testing their decision-making and operational capacities and enhancing preparedness and resilience. EU-level mechanisms supported the response to the complex hybrid crisis.

This included a discussion at the level of EU Member State Ambassadors and the activation of the Council’s integrated political crisis response arrangements, as well as the Commission’s crisis management tools, such as the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

The EU Integrated Solution 2024 also deepened EU-NATO cooperation at staff level as set out in the 2016 EU-NATO Warsaw Declaration. The exercise tested parallel crisis management coordination between the two organisations.

This large-scale exercise provided a timely opportunity to enhance EU preparedness in line with the EU Strategic Compass, which sets out common threat assessments and crisis response strategies. By simulating responses to potential hybrid threats and campaigns, including through disinformation, manipulation of foreign information and situational intervention, the EU is better prepared to ensure rapid, unified and effective crisis management, response and communication should a future challenge arise.