Scheduled before the “Qatargate” (see EUROPE 13082/1, 13084/6) that has been rocking the European Parliament, the plenary session’s debate on foreign interference on Wednesday 14 December was timely. While MEPs insisted on the need to track down any foreign influences on their institution, the discussion was originally aimed at obtaining clarification on the package for the defence of European democracy, announced in the State of the Union speech (see EUROPE 13021/4).
Defence of democracy package
Present at the debate, the European Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn, outlined the first draft of the package for the defence of democracy, planned for spring 2023.
In particular, he announced that a “legislative proposal to protect our democracies from third country entities exercising activities in the Union that may impact public opinion and the democratic sphere”, a “review of actions under the EU Democracy Action Plan” (see EUROPE 12840/4) as well as “measures on secure and resilient elections, including, among others, cybersecurity measures in electoral processes”, are currently under consideration.
Asked about former European officials employed by hostile foreign entities, the commissioner assured that the package would “provide more transparency regarding covered foreign influence”, but that there are already “provisions regulating the activities of former staff members”.
Most groups asked the Commission to go further and to act quickly. Andreas Schieder (S&D, Austrian), for example, called for “screening” legislation to “make it watertight” to prevent foreign interference in EU policies. Markéta Gregorová (Greens/EFA, Czech), for her part, called for a “strong plan - no package, no codes without obligations”. Vladimir Bilčík (EPP, Slovakian) stressed the need to “take action as quickly as possible”.
Corruption enters the debate
Shaken by the allegations of corruption hanging over the European Parliament, MEPs recalled that Qatar was not the only country seeking to influence the EU. In turn, they mentioned Russia and China, but also “Islamist or American evangelist groups hostile to women’s rights”. “We have to show that our political scene is not a market where Doha, Baku, Moscow or Beijing can come and shop”, said Raphaël Glücksmann (S&D, France).
Finally, Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French) said that “we must shed light on all the manipulators and all the manipulated” before concluding with a question: “Let’s ask ourselves: do those who describe Qatar as a beacon of human rights, those who refuse to see that Russia supports terrorism, have only convictions or do they have bank accounts?” (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)