The European Commission is moving to impose EU-wide sanctions on the conservative media platform Voice of Europe, despite the lack of any public evidence to prove the month-old allegations made by Czech authorities that the site is part of a Kremlin-run disinformation network.
According to Politico, Voice of Europe is among the four news outlets that are being added to the EU’s upcoming 14th sanctions package against Russia, outlined in a draft dated May 3rd. The three others are the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti and the Russian media platforms Izvestija and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The inclusion of Voice of Europe in the newest sanctions list comes after Czech authorities claimed in late March that the site was part of a pro-Russian interference operation, allegedly bribing national conservative politicians, including MEPs, to spread Kremlin talking points in interviews with the outlet.
However, despite strong demands from right-wing parties, including the German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), to release their evidence to the public, Prague still hasn’t come forward with anything other than claims. Nor were the names of the allegedly compromised politicians published, with the sole exception of Petr Bystron—one of AfD’s frontrunners for the European parliamentary elections.
Nonetheless, the Czech Republic unilaterally sanctioned Voice of Europe in April, then, together with Belgium, called on the EU to introduce EU-wide measures against the site. The European Commission—which has repeatedly made it clear that it only considers popular will to be democratic as long as people vote for the “right” candidates—appears to be more than happy to oblige.
Addressing the issue in an interview with the Czech state broadcaster on Sunday, Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourová hinted that the EU-wide sanctions against Voice of Europe are a done deal at this point. “We do not consider them to be media, but tools of Putin’s propaganda,” the commissioner said.
Considering the fast-approaching elections, it’s easy to question the reason behind this coordinated push to discredit Europe’s conservative politicians. Despite the lack of evidence, mainstream parties in Brussels were able to use the allegations to collectively condemn the entire Right, branding all national conservative MEPs as Russian proxies.
With only a month remaining until the elections, mainstream political forces can comfortably drag out the scandal throughout the campaign period without presenting proof of their claims, hurting the election prospects of the entire Identity and Democracy (ID) group, and possibly even several parties belonging to the European Conservative and Reformists (ECR).
According to the statement Voice of Europe published in response to the allegations,
The fact that the architects of this hoax have not provided any concrete evidence to support their claims leads us to believe that they simply wanted to silence a news platform that is critical of their viewpoints and their globalist agenda, and which is furthermore open to alternative opinions and perspectives.
We do not know the truth behind the vague allegations about Voice of Europe and a ‘disinformation’ campaign—and there is no public proof of any wrongdoing. But raising such serious allegations against legitimate EU politicians during an important campaign period without presenting substantial evidence with the apparent aim to weaken their election prospects is not only highly unethical but undemocratic, as well.
