The shadow of Qatargate and Russian aggression in Ukraine loomed large as the EU Parliament discussed measures to protect next year’s EU elections against foreign disinformation campaigns.
Lawmakers debated a report by EPP MEP (and former Latvian Foreign Minister), Sandra Kalniete at a plenary session in Brussels on June 1st, calling for a total clampdown on pro-Russian activism and for the strengthening of democratic mechanisms ahead of next year’s European elections.
The morning debate witnessed an alliance of populist and socialist MEPs critical of EU attempts to control the flow of information under the guise of stabilising European democracy against Russian misinformation.
Under the terms of the Kalniete report, the EU would create a unified approach to mitigate foreign disinformation campaigns, including the imposition of sanctions against those caught spreading pro-Russian talking points.
The EU would redouble its financial commitment to create a “global community of fact-checkers” and conduct its own information warfare both within and outside of the bloc.
Foreign donations and NGOs would come under greater scrutiny with MEPs blaming Russian disinformation campaigns for undermining European solidarity and the EU’s reputation in the Global South.
Anti-disinformation campaigns are a growing pillar of EU foreign policy strategy. In April, Brussels greenlighted a new operation in Moldova against attempts to topple the country’s government by pro-Russian proxies.
Since the Russian attack on Ukraine, the EU has come down hard on Kremlin-sponsored media outlets. The report is also highlighting the risk to sexual and ethnic minorities generated by Russian disinformation.
While the reforms have the support of most parliamentary factions, critics from both the Left and the Right accused the EU of creating a “Ministry of Truth” in pursuit of a monolithic stance on the Ukraine issue.
Speaking from the podium, Kalniete was adamant that Russian disinformation tactics posed an existential crisis to European democracy, adding that the “tentacles of disinformation are reaching politicians from the far right and the far left.”
Earlier this week, the Polish government was accused of using war hysteria to target its own political opponents.
Critics of the report say that the freedom for MEPs to stray from foreign policy norms could be hampered by the new EU guidelines, limiting MEPs from speaking out on international affairs.
During the two-hour debate, Left MEP Clare Daly slammed the report for promoting a form of European neo-McCarthyism against anti-war MEPs. Daly, who is regarded as the leading figure on the anti-war Left within the parliament, stated that pro-Russian advocacy was the “go-to” slander for European governments and referenced attempts by Spanish authorities to link Catalan separatists to Russian interference.
Daly’s objections were seconded by AfD MEP Gunnar Beck and other right-wing MEPs who said that the EU has no right to lecture member states on foreign interference and that Parliament was ignoring the much larger issue of Morocco and Qatari influence-peddling. Eurocrats have been accused of wanting to generate self-flattering propaganda for themselves; meanwhile, conservative MEPs warned that the anti-disinformation reforms could be used against internal dissent and not solely against Russian agents.
The EU provoked the anger of social media companies in recent months with its suffocating stance on combating ‘hate speech’ and ‘disinformation,’ as Twitter withdrew from the bloc’s anti-disinformation code of conduct.
