The European Parliament strongly condemned, in a resolution adopted on Thursday 25 April by an overwhelming majority (429 votes in favour, 27 against, 48 abstentions), disinformation and attempts by third countries to interfere in democratic processes at European Union level and in the Member States, aimed primarily at Russia and its proxies in the EU, particularly in Germany, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
The European Parliament reiterated its call for the introduction of a European “sanctions regime” against the perpetrators of information manipulation activities and malign foreign interference.
The MEPs say they are dismayed by “credible” reports that Bundestag MP, Petr Bystron, an influential member of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, has received payments of up to €25,000 to disseminate pro-Russian propaganda. Concerned by the fact that the FBI questioned Maximilian Krah, an AfD MEP and member of the ID group in the European Parliament, and by the recent arrest of Mr Krah’s assistant on charges of spying for China (see EUROPE 13397/30), they are calling on the German far-right party to “immediately and publicly declare its financial links with the Kremlin”.
MEPs also expressed their “indignation” at the participation of MEPs in the pro-Russian Voice of Europe media “at a time when Russia is waging an illegal war of aggression against Ukraine”. Deploring the fact that this media resumed its activities from Kazakhstan at the beginning of April 2024, they are calling on the Member States to “take the necessary steps to ensure that it is not possible to access Voice of Europe from the EU”.
IPCR. Parliament also supports the activation, by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, of the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) mechanism to facilitate the exchange of information between EU institutions and to facilitate regular monitoring of the investigations carried out in the Member States into the alleged corruption by Russia of candidates in the June European elections (see EUROPE 13393/4). And it supports the Belgian request to examine the advisability of extending the mandate of OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to authorise them to prosecute these offences.
The only amendment adopted in plenary was from the ECR group, strongly condemning the Russian practice of using illegal immigrants to destabilise neighbouring Member States by turning them back into EU territory.
To see the European Parliament resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/byl (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)