Debate: Countering the anti-European and anti-Ukrainian propaganda of Putin’s European cronies
Date: WEDNESDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Mikuláš Bek
Language: EN

In short, any false narratives and foreign information manipulation and interference in our democracies and our democratic discourses cannot and should not be tolerated. Our societies deserve to be free from any hostile influence and be able to make their own properly informed decisions, whether it is on health matters, political parties they choose to vote for, or on global events that directly or indirectly impact their lives.  Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, we see that there are active attempts to manipulate the hearts and minds of European citizens. Sometimes these attempts are broader in scale. Sometimes they are more focused on certain European countries and vulnerable minorities within them. But they are undoubtedly present, and they are only getting more and more daring and audacious.  Russian disinformation outlets aim at polarising our societies. They do that by combining pro-Kremlin narratives with content on the divisive subjects that fringe movements in Europe focus on: migration, anti-vaccine sentiment and climate change scepticism, for instance. Such narratives are designed to misinform, mislead and, most importantly, to be divisive. This is why the Council has clearly stated from the outset of the war that such hostile, opportunistic and dangerous activities will not be tolerated, that our people must be protected from attempts to distort reality.  As a result, we introduced restrictive measures against Russia-associated outlets conducting disinformation and information manipulation actions. And yet, despite our early actions, we must prepare for the long and difficult road ahead of us. There is no silver bullet from complex attempts to interfere in our democracies and we must work on multiple fronts to continue to defend our values and principles.  The Council closely follows new initiatives by the Commission in this area and is actively involved in the implementation of existing ones, such as the strengthened code of practice against disinformation.  We look forward to even more ambitious actions based on the ‘whole of society’ approach, as we have to be all together in this fight against propaganda and information manipulation.  I want to repeat again that any interference in our political and democratic processes is unacceptable, particularly in the current geopolitical climate and also in the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections.  Therefore, the Council and the Czech Presidency are fully committed to the development of the EU hybrid toolbox, as well as in establishing the toolbox to counter foreign information and manipulation that will make our European response stronger and more coordinated. That will make us more resilient and the hostile powers less successful in their actions.  At the same time, the Czech Presidency is actively engaged in the implementation of the European Democracy Action Plan, which aims at building a more resilient public sphere in our societies.  I would like to underline in particular, the negotiations we launched last week with the European Parliament on the regulation on the statute and financing of political parties and foundations. We hope to conclude these negotiations successfully by the end of the year and thus adopt EU legislation that will increase the transparency of political parties while reinforcing our capacity to counter foreign interference. I count on your support and engagement towards this objective. Thank you very much once again for your attention.