The Commission provides emergency funding to Finland in relation to the damage of the Balticconnector pipeline

After the damage of the Balticconnector gas pipeline, the European Commission decided to provide emergency financial support to Finland. The activity of the pipeline, linking Estonian and Finnish gas grids and providing Finland with access to Latvia's gas storage, was disrupted by a pressure drop on 8 October 2023. Following an investigation by the Finnish authorities, it was revealed that the disruption to the pipeline was caused by an external interference in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone.   

The emergency funding, €800,000 from the Internal Security Fund (ISF) will be awarded to the Finnish Border Guard and Navy. The funding will be used to cover expenses related to securing the incident area, as well as to investigating the disruption of the Balticconnector pipeline.    

Following the sabotage on the North Stream pipeline, the Commission has accelerated its work on critical infrastructure resilience in three priority areas: preparedness, response and international cooperation. Since January 2023, new rules are in place on the resilience of critical entities and of the EU network and communication systems. To improve the EU response to disruptive critical infrastructure incidents with significant cross-border impact, the Commission proposed a Recommendation for a Critical Infrastructure Blueprint. Finally, the already existing cooperation between the EU and NATO has been strengthened. In January 2023, President von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg launched a Task Force on the resilience of critical infrastructure.