Debate: Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU
Date: TUESDAY, 8 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

A lot has been said here about freedom of speech. Let me assure you that freedom of speech remains the golden grail for us. It does not change. It is in our European DNA that we protect freedom of speech. But, freedom of speech is not absolute because by protecting absolute freedom of speech, we will resign on truth. And the society which resigns on truth, which forgets to value truth, is a weak society and is lost. And this is what must not happen to us. Paní předsedající, dovolte mi nyní reagovat na pana Uhríka. Udělám to ve svém rodném jazyce, kterému pan Uhrík dobře rozumí. Pan Uhrík přirovnal Evropskou unii k Orwellovi. Jinými slovy řekl, že tím, že zakazujeme nebo že omezujeme možnost některých médií vysílat v Evropě, zavádíme cenzuru. A já chci říct, že bychom si měli uvědomit, o čem tady mluvíme, mluvíme-li o válečné propagandě a dezinformacích, které se pojí k válce na Ukrajině. Dnes ráno jsem četla zprávu, že v nové nabídce dezinformací je zpráva, že válka na Ukrajině je  Myslím si, že bychom si měli všichni uvědomit, o čem se tady bavíme a o jaké míře sprostoty a neúcty k lidskému životu mluvíme, pokud se bavíme o dezinformacích, které se váží k ukrajinské válce. Já si myslím, že je to verbální barbarismus, který se pojí s barbarismem, který vidíme v reálné válce na Ukrajině. I will come back to English because speaking about Orwell, I think that what we see is Orwell in Russia. There we see that absolute power, which is not limited by checks and balances, leads to absolute evil. And the action of the EU against Russia today and Sputnik, I agree it’s a radical reaction in an extreme situation. It’s radical, it’s unprecedented and it’s necessary.  I want to say one thing to conclude. What we see in the days following the start of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, after 24 February, is that the investments of Putin’s Russia in creating sufficient power for disinformation in Europe went in vain because it didn’t disappear, but it is weakened now.  And we see that in spite of the years of massaging public opinion in the EU, especially in central and eastern Europe, the people show that they did not believe it or they do not believe it now. And there is an extremely big and important wave of solidarity. I want to thank the people in Poland, in Hungary, in Slovakia, in Romania, in my country, for such a strong action helping the people who are fleeing the war.  And this is now, this is today, but disinformation will gain again its power. I just imagine this is like the second wave of a tsunami. It will come and they are already starting and they will be harvesting the fear of people, they will be fuelling the fear of people, because there will be increased crises and there are already increased crises of energy. There will probably be increased crisis prices of food.  There will be a big portion of discomfort which the European people are not used to, and we have to be ready for that. We have to strengthen all our actions against disinformation, everything we spoke about today, our action through the code of practice and many other things. But also we have to tell the people the truth ourselves because the best way of combating disinformation is the truth. And I think that we will need a mature society, well informed people, the people who will trust us and trust cannot come without the truth.