13/11/2025 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 13 November, MEPs urged the EU to combat repressive actions by authoritarian regimes abroad (see EUROPE 13742/13). The text adopted (512 votes in favour, 76 against and 52 abstentions) is, however, less demanding than the draft report by Chloé Ridel (S&D, French). In particular, MEPs deleted the call for the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to coordinate EU-wide programmes for the reception and protection of human rights defenders. Member States are invited to develop a more coherent, coordinated and predictable policy for human rights defenders, rather than a “visa” policy. The paragraph inviting the Commission to ensure the effective application and enforcement of legislation on digital services and to ensure that social networks tackle the problem of transnational law enforcement has been deleted. See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/jex (CG)