In a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday 3 May, 230 civil society organisations (CSOs) express their opposition to the future ‘Foreign Interference’ directive. Part of the ‘Defence of Democracy’ package to be presented at the end of May, the legislation would, among other things, introduce a register of organisations funded by third countries or entities.
However, for the signatories, this could have “unintended negative consequences, hindering CSOs’ ability to fulfil their role as defenders of democracy [and] limit the EU’s capacity to support civil society at risk and human rights defenders globally”. Similar laws, they point out, have already been used to reduce the space for civil society and have been denounced by the EU.
Furthermore, the organisations believe that before proposing such a directive, the Commission should conduct a fundamental rights impact assessment. In addition, it must adopt a “risk-based approach”, conduct a “careful assessment” of its unintended consequences and use clear wording.
This is not the first call to the Commission on the subject: various civil society organisations have already warned it about the potential perverse effects of the future directive (see EUROPE 13162/11, 13156/23).
To see the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/6np (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)