INTERNAL SECURITY FUND (ISF) – Supporting the implementation of the new legislation on critical entities resilience – 2026

Objectives

• To support the fulfilment of the objectives of the CER Directive by facilitating cooperation as regards resilience of critical entities and of critical infrastructure in the EU
• To conduct cross-border stress tests of critical infrastructure in sectors covered by the CER Directive, or to organise large-scale exercises to simulate response to specific risk scenarios

Priorities

• Priority 1: enhanced cooperation – strengthening the partnership between Member State authorities, the private and the public sector
• Priority 2: stronger resilience – improving the resilience of critical entities in the entire resilience cycle, from prevention to response to disruptive incidents
• Priority 3: exchange of best practices between different stakeholders relevant for critical infrastructure resilience, including key European partners.

Among financed actions

• Analytical, monitoring and evaluation activities
• Tests, validation and deployment of innovative solutions and technologies
• Development of guidance materials, training courses and exchange programmes
• Stress test

Eligibility

• Be legal entities
  • Public or private bodies
  • Non-profit-making public/private entities
  • Profit-making entities
  • International organisation (only for ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-STRENGTH)
• Be established in one of the eligible countries:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)), excluding Denmark)
  • Non-EU countries:
    • Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein without any limitation
    • For Topic ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-STRENGTH only: European third countries if their participation is clearly justified, for example in relation to cross-border risk assessment activities and cross-border interdependencies of the provision of essential services; notably Ukraine
• Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting the proposal.

ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-STRENGTH:

• A consortium composed of minimum 3 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 2 different EU Member States, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, European third countries at least one of which is established in an EU Member State
• The following entities can NOT apply as coordinator:
  • entities established in European third countries
  • international organisations.

ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-TEST:

• A consortium composed of minimum 4 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 2 different EU Member States, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, at least one of which is established in an EU Member State must be constituted.
• The following entities can NOT apply for this topic:
  • entities established in European third countries;
  • international organisations.

Additional information

• Initial duration of the action: maximum 24 months

Extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment.

• Contact: HOME-ISF@ec.europa.eu

Useful

• Guidelines: Click here
• Other call documents: Click here
• DG website: Click here
• More information: Click here

• Total budget of the call: 15 million euros
• Budget per topic:
  • ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-STRENGTH: 6 million euros
  • ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-TEST: 9 million euros
• Amount of the grant:
  • ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-STRENGTH: between 2.000.000 and 3.000.000 euros
  • ISF-2026-TF2-AG-CER-TEST: between 1.000.000 and 3.000.000 euros

The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested.

• Funding rate: 90% of the total eligible costs