europe magazine
Foreign states want to influence the 2024 EU elections with fake news campaigns and hidden financing – that is the result of a report by MEPs. Now you want to arm yourself.
There is still almost a year to go before there will be another election in the European Union. Hundreds of millions of Europeans will then vote on a new parliament in Brussels.
But Members of the European Parliament are already worried about interference from abroad. They fear that attempts to influence and manipulate information will increase ahead of the elections.
Russia, China, Iran
A few days ago, the responsible committee of the EU Parliament presented a report on foreign interference. On 43 pages, MPs from various parties describe which dangers are particularly present – and from whom they emanate.
“The influence has been there for a long time,” says Viola von Cramon from the Greens. She took part in the analysis. It is above all “authoritarian states” that pose a threat. Russia, China and Iran are explicitly mentioned in the report, but also Morocco and Qatar. According to von Cramon, there are actors who have an interest in “weakening or completely destroying democratic institutions” and “unhinging” the concept of the EU.
fake news, covert financing, destabilization
According to the report, Russia is actively spreading disinformation, such as the war in Ukraine and the state of global food and energy security. But the MEPs also list other means of influencing: They denounce that “political elites” in Germany have promoted the interests of the Russian gas giant Gazprom. In addition, Russia is involved in hacking EU accounts and in the covert financing of European politicians and parties.
With regard to China, the report warns in particular about the EU’s dependence on the Asian country and on Chinese software and technology groups such as TikTok, Huawei or Nuctech, a manufacturer of security equipment. The social media app TikTok is a “source of Chinese-supported disinformation”. MEPs are also concerned that close partnerships and funding from European universities with China could leak sensitive knowledge to the Chinese military.
“Growing influence of authoritarian secret services”
Iran, Turkey, Morocco and Qatar are also mentioned. Morocco and Qatar for their alleged influence and bribery of current and former EU parliamentarians. Overall, the report notes a “growing influence of authoritarian secret services” in Brussels.
But it’s not just countries that MEPs see as a threat. The private digital platforms Twitter, Telegram, Apple, Odyssey, Google and Meta have been criticized, for example because they do not delete dangerous online content quickly enough or do not cooperate sufficiently with the authorities.
Prompt to rethink
To protect European democracy and the 2024 EU elections from foreign interference, MEPs are proposing a list of priorities. So-called “high-risk countries” should be on this list, which pose a particular risk.
These countries are to be identified on the basis of several criteria: whether a country respects democracy and human rights, whether it has tried to interfere abroad in the past or whether it wants to spread an authoritarian ideology.
According to von Cramon, this creates “an intersection” that no longer “applies to too many states”. This prioritization is intended to conserve resources for protecting the EU and use them in a more targeted manner. At the same time, the parliamentarians call on the EU Commission to better track financing from foreign donors to the recipients.
Democracy Defense Package
In view of the threat from abroad, the EU Commission is also alarmed. In September, Commission President von der Leyen announced a “democracy defense package”.
Von der Leyen said that “no Trojan horse” from authoritarian states would be allowed to attack the EU from within. However, the Commission package is not yet available. It should be ready by the end of May.
Warning of bugs and loopholes
However, concerns about the Commission’s package are already growing – for example with Carolin Johnson from the organization European Partnership for Democracy. While she welcomes the basic idea of the package, she calls the plans “a missed opportunity”. She criticizes that the Commission did not allow itself enough time to carefully design the measures.
She suspects that legal articles, which are intended to serve as the basis for the planned EU directive, do not offer a sufficiently secure legal framework. She also fears that the planned EU directive will not be enough to prevent hidden cash injections. Foreign actors could quickly and easily “adjust” their “modes of operation”, redeclare financial payments and would no longer be affected by the measures.
The greatest dangers lurked within
She also says: The greatest dangers for European democracy do not come from outside, but from within. Attacks on fundamental rights, freedom of the press, the rule of law or corruption scandals like those in the EU Parliament are what prepare the “breeding ground for illiberal forces.”
With regard to the next EU elections, she demands that the EU institutions have to do more to understand the citizens. For example, “why you should vote” and “why it’s worth believing in the European project”.
You can see this and other reports in Europamagazin – on Sunday at 12.45 p.m. in the first.