The European Council on 20 and 21 June is expected to issue a clear call for concerted action to combat disinformation and cyberthreats, as indicated in a draft set of conclusions copied by EUROPE. The future Finnish Presidency should also set up a new working group in the Council of the EU on this issue.
The Twenty-Eight remain concerned about Russia's numerous disinformation campaigns in the run-up to the European elections. According to the East Stratcom working group, these have doubled in the last 5 months, from 434 in 2018 to 998 in 2019 for the same period (see EUROPE 12275/11). They are also concerned about online and hybrid attacks, especially after only a few months ago they discovered that the EU delegation in Russia was reportedly the victim of a cyber attack in February 2017 (see EUROPE 12272/15).
The draft conclusions “call for sustained efforts to raise awareness, prepare and strengthen the resilience of our democracies to disinformation”. In a paragraph on hybrid and online threats, it calls for a coordinated response from Member States and enhanced cooperation with relevant international actors. While it mentions a range of tools already in place, it calls for “further joint efforts [...] to strengthen the resilience and security culture of the European institutions against cyber and hybrid threats outside the EU and to better protect the EU's information and communication networks and decision-making processes from the malicious activities of its partners”.
One diplomat expects countries geographically close to Russia to take the floor, while pointing out that Hungary is the only state to highlight the disinformation coming from the West.
France advocates providing delegations and, as a priority, the European institutions with information, security and protection units, as well as establishing a European Agency for the Protection of Democracies. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)