Foreign interference in the EU’s political affairs, through acts of corruption or disinformation campaigns, occupied the morning of the European Parliament’s plenary session on Thursday 1 June.
MEPs adopted a report calling for a “coordinated strategy” by the EU to deal with covert foreign influence (469 votes in favour, 71 against, 75 abstentions) (see EUROPE 13170/25). At the same time, they questioned the Vice-President of the European Commission, Věra Jourová, on the measures envisaged to protect the 2024 European elections.
Information warfare
While the report by Sandra Kalniete (EPP, Latvian) looks at various aspects of foreign interference and explores different avenues for strengthening the EU’s resilience, the rapporteur placed particular emphasis on the dangers associated with the manipulation of information.
“We need to move beyond a reactive approach cantered on fact-checking, debunking etc. and instead focus on resilience building and ‘vaccination’ of our societies against disinformation”, she pleaded. Specifically, she would like to see a “dedicated EU program to invest in our democracy”, believing that this would be a useful long-term investment despite the costs.
The report also suggests a “specific sanctions regime on foreign information manipulation and foreign interference” and a less “fragmented” European approach to the fight against disinformation.
Finally, she called on MEPs and the Commission to pay attention to the dangers of artificial intelligence, which makes disinformation unrecognisable, and to speed up legislative decision-making so that it keeps pace with technological progress.
Countries at risk
Mrs Kalniete also called for a shift from a “country-agnostic approach” to a “high-risk country approach”. “We should not be afraid to call out those seeking intentionally and in a coordinated way to manipulate our democracy”, she defended.
However, when it comes to identifying these ‘adversaries’, the two extremes of the Chamber differ from their colleagues, who highlight the threat from Russia and China. Clare Daly (The Left, Irish) spoke of the “myth of Russian interference” and denounced US influence operations. An argument echoed by Thierry Mariani (ID, French).
However, when it comes to voting, the political divisions are not so clear-cut. The members of the ID and The Left Groups are almost equally divided between those who voted in favour, those who abstained and those who opposed the report. The Greens/EFA Group was split between voting in favour and abstaining. The S&D, EPP and Renew Europe Groups are broadly in favour, despite a few abstentions from the Social Democrats.
See the ‘Kalniete’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/773
The ‘defence of democracy’ package postponed
Mrs Jourová assured that the Commission is working with the Member States and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to protect the EU from foreign interference and to ensure the smooth running of the European elections in spring 2024. While she mentioned the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the code of best practice for combating disinformation, she mainly talked about the future legislative package for the defence of democracy.
Expected on Wednesday 7 June, it will ultimately be postponed until the Commission conducts an impact assessment, as requested by several civil society organisations (see EUROPE 13174/27). It will contain: - a communication and a Directive on the transparency of interest representatives directed or funded by third countries; - a recommendation on EU elections; - a recommendation on the involvement of citizens and civil society in public decision-making.
At a time when the Directive is raising concerns, Mrs Jourová was keen to reassure. The aim is to “understand better the financial flows to the EU from third countries that may want to undermine or destabilise our political processes”, without banning representative activities and while respecting freedom of association, she stressed (see EUROPE 13162/11).
Reinforcing the integrity of Parliament
In parallel to the discussions in plenary, the Special Committee on Foreign Interference (ING2) adopted a report proposing reforms to protect the integrity of Parliament, with 25 votes in favour, one against and five abstentions. Put forward by Vladimír Bilčík (EPP, Slovakian) and Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French), the text aims above all to strengthen the institution’s transparency and “culture of security” (see EUROPE 13175/23).
Here too, they are proposing a series of measures ranging from the introduction of security clearance for MEPs and their teams to better supervision of missions abroad and relations with third countries, not to mention an overhaul of the Parliament’s IT equipment.
See the Bilčík/Loiseau report: https://aeur.eu/f/776
See the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/775 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)