On Tuesday 9 April, the EPP, the Greens/EFA, the Party of European Socialists, the European Democratic Party, the ALDE, the Party of the European Left and the ECR Group signed the code of conduct for the 2024 European Parliament elections, pledging to respect “ethical and fair campaign practices” in the run-up to the vote, which will take place from 6 to 9 June.
“Elections should be an opportunity to compare ideas, not to resort to dubious methods of manipulation such as AI deepfakes. I congratulate the parties on their decision to go further”, commented the European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová.
Drawn up and negotiated by Ms Jourová and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance – in close collaboration with European political parties – the 14-point code of conduct will act as a checklist for signatory political parties, candidates, the media and EU citizens to monitor behaviour during the election period. The far-right group Identity and Democracy (ID) has indicated that it will also adhere to the Code of Conduct.
The signatory parties will have to encourage “inclusive political participation”, refraining from “producing, using or disseminating discriminatory statements and biases against specific groups”. They will also, for example, have to refrain from broadcasting political advertisements sponsored by undeclared interests or hiring intermediaries to place campaign messages without attribution.
See the code of conduct: https://aeur.eu/f/bo3 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)