Finland to attend joint EU crisis management and hybrid threats exercise

Finland will take part in HEX-ML 18 (PACE), the European Union's joint exercise to improve its decision- making, which will be held from 5 to 23 November 2018.

The so-called desk-top exercise, which focuses on decision-making and planning, aims to improve the EU's ability to act in the event of crises especially in the area of the Union's common security and defence policy (CSDP) and to promote the EU's capacity to respond to hybrid threats. The exercise will be based on a fictitious scenario that reflects today's multifaceted crises.

This is the fourth time that this exercise is organised, but this year it will be more comprehensive, including for the first time hybrid threats. The exercise was organised last in 2016. The participants will include the European External Action Service (EEAS), the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC), the European Commission, EU Member States, and relevant other EU actors.

In Finland, the exercise will be conducted as cross-administrative cooperation by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Command, the Ministry of the Interior, the Finnish Border Guard, the National Police Board, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Finnish Food Safety Authority.

Inquiries: Heli Lehto, Political Department, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 165; Salla Sammalkivi, EU Affairs Department, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 295 160 207; and Reetta Palojoensuu, Defence Policy Department, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 160 398.

The Foreign Ministry's email addresses are in the format [email protected], the Prime Minister's Office's email addresses are in the format [email protected], the Ministry of Defence [email protected]