Saarelainen, Arvonen made Director, Board Chair

The Steering Board of the Anti hybrid threat centre established in Finland on Wednesday appointed the interim Director and Char of the Board at its first meeting in Helsinki, said an official press release.

The meeting appointed Matti Saarelainen, the Project Manager of the centre as interim Director while the State Under-Secretary for EU Affairs Jori Arvonen was appointed as the Chair of the Board to continue the current functions in the launch of the Centre.

In addition, the Board discussed the future Rules of Procedure and organisation of the Centre and its membership fee for 2018.

As the host country, Finland will cover the costs for operating the Centre in 2017. After 2017, the host country will provide half of the EUR 1.5 million budget (around EUR 700,000) and the other half is to be covered by membership fees (around EUR 700,000).

The Board also discussed a proposal to invite a high-level Advisory Group for the Centre. The task of the Advisory Group would be, for instance, to encourage debate on hybrid threats.

Before the first meeting of the Board, representatives of all the countries that participated in the preparatory work to establish the Centre and representatives of the European External Action Service and NATO met to discuss the Centre’s future operations. The first research projects of the Centre will start in autumn 2017. One of the Centre’s first projects is to examine hybrid threats as a comprehensive phenomenon.

Earlier, a memorandum of understanding was signed in Helsinki on Tuesday between nine countries for establishing the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.

The signatory states are Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, France, Germany, and the United States. Representatives of the European External Action Service and NATO were also present on the occasion.