The European Union is working on new instruments designed to strengthen the protection of democracy against disinformation, foreign interference and attempts to influence elections, while providing greater support for free media and civil society.
The proposed measures include the AgoraEU programme and the European Democracy Shield. The European Parliament is currently preparing its amendments to the instruments proposed by the European Commission.
“The most important objective of AgoraEU is to protect our democracy, all its institutions, and the people and organisations fighting for our freedoms,” Alice Bah Kuhnke, a Swedish Green Party member of the European Parliament and co-rapporteur on Parliament’s draft position on the new programme, told the Newseria news agency.
“This includes the right to express opinions, the right of journalists to critically scrutinise politicians, and the right of various organisations operating at national level in the member states, as well as within EU institutions, to carry out their work,” she said.
“Today, we are threatened not only by Russian trolls and their agents, but also by other forces around the world that want to destroy the European Union. This is precisely what AgoraEU is intended to address.”
AgoraEU to combine support for culture, media and civil society
AgoraEU is a new programme proposed by the European Commission last year. It is intended to form part of the EU’s next long-term budget for 2028–2034.
The programme will combine and expand the existing Creative Europe programme and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, known as CERV, which are funded under the EU’s 2021–2027 Multiannual Financial Framework.
Under the model proposed by the Commission, AgoraEU will consist of three main components.
The first, Creative Europe – Culture, is intended to support creativity and cross-border cultural cooperation.
The second, MEDIA+, will seek to increase the diversity and competitiveness of the audiovisual and video game industries. It will also support free and independent journalism and news media.
The third component, CERV+, will promote fundamental rights and equality, prevent discrimination, encourage democratic participation and protect the rule of law.
“Creating a large AgoraEU programme is the right approach,” the Swedish MEP said.
“All the values of the European Union are being brought together within this major programme. I hope it will prove effective by bringing together different organisations that share common characteristics. Culture, civil society and the media are interconnected.”
The European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education and its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs are among the bodies examining the Commission’s proposal. A draft of Parliament’s position was prepared in May.
“There is still much to improve in the Commission’s proposal, but its ambitions are right,” Bah Kuhnke said.
“Parliament is proposing a larger budget than the Commission, so everything now depends on whether the member states also regard AgoraEU — and therefore civil society, organisations and culture — as part of the comprehensive defence of everything that Putin, and not only Putin, wants to destroy. If they do, we must also provide the necessary funding.”
European Parliament calls for a larger budget
The European Commission proposed total funding of EUR 8.6 billion for AgoraEU.
In April, Parliament’s Committee on Budgets called for this amount to be increased by EUR 2.14 billion.
The European Parliament’s draft position also calls for stronger protection of journalists and media workers against pressure, as well as greater support for civil society organisations.
MEPs have emphasised the need to counter disinformation, information manipulation and foreign interference.
According to a special Eurobarometer survey published in June, nearly 87% of EU citizens believe that disinformation, foreign interference, AI-generated content and deepfakes pose a threat to democracy.
European Democracy Shield to counter manipulation and disinformation
Another European Commission initiative intended to address these threats is the European Democracy Shield.
The initiative is designed as a package of measures strengthening the EU’s collective ability to counter information manipulation and disinformation.
The Democracy Shield covers three principal areas: protecting the integrity of the information environment; strengthening institutions, free and fair elections, and independent media; and increasing social resilience and public participation.
“We need tools that will allow us to protect ourselves from within, because we know that anti-EU forces are operating in some member states,” Bah Kuhnke said.
“They are not supporters of Europe. There are politicians in this institution who repeat the same messages as Putin. This is extremely dangerous because they want to destroy us from within.”
She argued that the EU needs tools enabling it to examine propaganda in greater detail, particularly as those spreading it are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
“They use influencers, for example, who speak in a moderate and seemingly harmless way. But when their messages are examined more closely, it becomes clear that they are spreading Putin’s propaganda,” the MEP said.
“That is why we need the instruments provided by the European Democracy Shield and the AgoraEU initiative, which will finance these activities.”
As part of the Democracy Shield, the European Commission is expected to present guidelines on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in electoral processes. It also intends to update the election-related toolkit established under the Digital Services Act.
Foreign interference could create a Trojan horse inside the EU
“In recent years, we have seen how Putin, among others, has attempted to influence elections in the European Union,” Bah Kuhnke said.
“If another government is formed in the EU that follows his instructions, he will have his own Trojan horse. This is a major problem because it can prevent us from making decisions, as we have seen in the case of Hungary. Viktor Orbán has obstructed the EU’s ability to take decisive action in support of Ukraine.”
Magdalena Adamowicz, an MEP representing Poland’s Civic Coalition, pointed to the rapid spread of AI-generated disinformation shortly before elections.
“Immediately before the elections in Slovenia, the internet was flooded with an AI-generated video showing one of the candidates rigging the election,” she said.
“There was no time to explain the situation properly and have the material withdrawn. The Democracy Shield is intended to ensure that countries warn one another, coordinate their responses and have the ability to remove such content quickly.”
New European centre to coordinate democratic resilience
The European Centre for Democratic Resilience began operating in February.
It is a key element of the European Democracy Shield and is intended to serve as an information-sharing platform connecting EU institutions, member states and civil society.
Its objectives include strengthening, protecting and promoting strong and resilient democracies throughout the European Union.
“The Shield will not become fully operational overnight. These processes are being introduced gradually,” Adamowicz said.
“We already have a centre for the protection of democracy that is building the necessary infrastructure. However, the effects of the Shield may not actually be visible.”
She compared the initiative to a vaccine.
“If elections take place and no fake content appears, and we are not flooded with disinformation, that will be evidence that the Shield is working. It operates somewhat like a vaccine: we are vaccinated and, as a result, we do not become ill.”
MEPs call for tougher sanctions and faster action by online platforms
In June, the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield adopted a series of recommendations aimed at improving the instrument proposed by the European Commission.
The recommendations are intended to better prepare the EU to counter foreign interference, hybrid threats and disinformation.
They include expanding sanctions against entities enabling Russian disinformation and against non-EU organisations helping Russia circumvent sanctions.
MEPs also want to strengthen the capabilities of relevant EU agencies to counter hybrid operations and acts of sabotage.
Parliamentarians argue that the European Union must urgently reduce its dependence on technologies controlled by foreign entities in critical sectors.
They also emphasise the need to require online platforms to respond more rapidly to election interference, particularly campaigns conducted using automated bots.
“The Shield is not supposed to target our freedom of expression. It is intended to target the entire infrastructure created to spread disinformation, including troll farms and bots,” Adamowicz said.
“A bot does not have a right to freedom of speech because it is not a human being.”
Disinformation can have real-world consequences
Adamowicz said her personal experience had shaped the way she viewed the proposed initiative.
“I see this Shield differently from some of my colleagues because the wave of disinformation and hatred directed at my family and at Paweł contributed to a tragedy,” she said.
“That is why I understand how important it is to detect false information and expose it.”
She argued that the average internet user now finds it extremely difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood or to identify coordinated influence operations.
“It is difficult to recognise when foreign forces, whether Russian or Chinese, are flooding our internet with content intended to create chaos, weaken Europe and turn us against one another.”
Adamowicz’s husband, Paweł Adamowicz, died from stab wounds inflicted by an attacker during the finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity fundraising event in 2019.
