Prague Joins EU Centre of Excellence for Resisting Hybrid Threats

HELSINKI (Sputnik) - Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is currently visiting Finland, has signed a memorandum regarding the Czech Republic's induction into the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), the Finnish government said in a statement.

"During his visit to Finland, Prime Minister Andrej Babis signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Czech Republic becoming a participating country of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats," the statement read.

Moreover, Finland and the Czech Republic agreed to develop cooperation in many areas, including the private sector and EU policy.

"We had a good conversation about the EU’s forthcoming financial framework and concluded that Finland and the Czech Republic have a lot in common. Both countries support strong agricultural and cohesion policies and the advancing of digitalization, innovation and economic growth. We also agreed that funding is a more effective means of achieving concrete results than bureaucracy," Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said after his talks with Babis, as quoted in the statement.

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According to the center’s website, hybrid threats are methods and activities targeted at vulnerabilities of opponents, including liabilities created by historical memory, legislation, geostrategic factors, ideological differences and many other factors.

Hybrid CoE was established last year and is based in the Finnish capital. It works as "hub of expertise" for European countries tackling the growing hybrid and information threats to the European security.