—

having regard to its decision of 10 March 2022 on setting up a special committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation (INGE 2), and defining its responsibilities, numerical strength and term of offices (1), and its decision of 14 February 2023 amending its aforementioned decision of 10 March, and adjusting its title and responsibilities (2),

—

having regard to its resolution of 9 March 2022 on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation (3) (hereinafter the ‘INGE 1 report’),

—

having regard to the Commission’s follow-up to Parliament’s recommendations in its resolution of 9 March 2022,

—

having regard to the Strategic Compass for Security and Defence — For a European Union that protects its citizens, values and interests and contributes to international peace and security, approved by the Council on 21 March 2022 and endorsed by the European Council on 24 March 2022,

—

having regard to its recommendation of 23 November 2022 to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy concerning the new EU strategy for enlargement (4),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 13 July 2022 entitled ‘2022 Rule of Law Report — The rule of law situation in the European Union’ (COM(2022)0500),

—

having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2022 on the shrinking space for civil society in Europe (5),

—

having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2022 on suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions (6),

—

having regard to its resolution of 23 November 2016 on EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against it by third countries (7),

—

having regard to its recommendation of 13 March 2019 to the Council and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy concerning taking stock of the follow-up taken by the EEAS two years after the EP report on EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against it by third countries (8),

—

having regard to its resolution of 20 October 2021 entitled ‘Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade: an Action Plan to Support Recovery and Transformation’  (9),

—

having regard to the Articles of Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts,

—

having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

—

having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in particular Article 20 thereof,

—

having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/692 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1381/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EU) No 390/2014 (10),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 27 April 2022 for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings (‘Strategic lawsuits against public participation’) (COM(2022)0177),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 3 December 2020 on the European democracy action plan (COM(2020)0790),

—

having regard to the proposal of 16 September 2022 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market (European Media Freedom Act) and amending Directive 2010/13/EU (COM(2022)0457),

—

having regard to the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe, and in particular proposals 27 and 37 thereof,

—

having regard to the strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation 2022,

—

having regard to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a single market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) (11),

—

having regard to Directive (EU) 2022/2557 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the resilience of critical entities and repealing Council Directive 2008/114/EC (12) (CER Directive);

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 18 October 2022 for a Council recommendation on a coordinated approach by the Union to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure (COM(2022)0551),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 25 November 2021 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising (COM(2021)0731) and the amendments thereto, adopted by Parliament on 2 February 2023  (13),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 25 November 2021 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (COM(2021)0734),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 16 December 2020 for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (COM(2020)0823) (NIS2 Directive),

—

having regard to European Court of Auditors (ECA) special report 05/2022 of 29 March 2022 entitled ‘Cybersecurity of EU institutions, bodies and agencies — Level of preparedness overall not commensurate with the threats’,

—

having regard to the Commission proposal of 22 March 2022 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down measures for a high common level of cybersecurity at the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union (COM(2022)0122),

—

having regard to the interinstitutional agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on a mandatory transparency register (14),

—

having regard to the US-EU Joint Statement of the Trade and Technology Council of 5 December 2022,

—

having regard to the ECA Annual Report on EU agencies for the financial year 2021,

—

having regard to the European Code of Standards for Independent Fact-Checking Organisations, published by the European Fact-Checking Standards Network in August 2022,

—

having regard to Rules 54 and 207 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the (mid-term) report of the Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, and the strengthening of integrity, transparency and accountability in the European Parliament (ING2) (A9-0187/2023),

A.

whereas Parliament adopted a resolution on 9 March 2022 laying down its recommendations based on the report of the first special committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation; whereas among its recommendations, this report called for the adoption of a coordinated strategy against foreign interference; whereas the Commission produced a document following up on these recommendations, suggesting among other things that such a strategy de facto already exists in the form of various kinds of interinstitutional coordination;

B.

whereas the European Parliament is the only directly elected body among the EU institutions and is at the forefront of EU political discussions on fighting foreign interference, information manipulation and hybrid threats in our democracies, including in the EU institutions; whereas recent events have highlighted that Parliament is a target of diverse and aggressive foreign interference campaigns;

C.

whereas the President of the Commission announced in her September 2022 State of the Union address that a Defence of Democracy package would be presented by the Commission, scheduled for adoption in the second quarter of 2023; whereas this package would include a legislative proposal to protect democracies from third-country entities exercising activities in the EU that may affect public opinion and the democratic sphere, a review of actions under the European democracy action plan (EDAP) and measures to ensure secure and resilient elections, including, among others, cybersecurity measures in electoral processes;

D.

whereas the Council of the European Union, the Commission and the European External Action Service co-led a joint exercise called ‘EU Integrated Resolve 2022’ aimed at testing the EU’s response to hybrid campaigns;

E.

whereas Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine started as a carefully planned and aggressively executed information war followed by a full-scale military invasion on 24 February 2022; whereas Russia uses an array of different methods of interference, embedded within a larger strategy to harm, confuse, frighten, weaken and divide the EU’s Member States and its neighbourhood; whereas the United States and the United Kingdom led effective ‘pre-bunking’ communication campaigns prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, involving making unprecedented public use of available reliable intelligence to counter the Kremlin narrative and shed light on the lies of the Russian Government and related actors; whereas Russia had for years been carrying out disinformation campaigns, cyber-attacks, elite capture and attacks aimed at rewriting history in an attempt to prepare the groundwork for its invasion of Ukraine to underpin it;

F.

whereas Parliament’s services are expected to make significant efforts to follow up on the recommendations adopted on 9 March 2022, in particular when preparing the 2024 European elections; whereas Parliament’s task force on disinformation has been tasked with coordinating the work of different European Parliament Directorates-General and cooperating with other EU institutions on a number of actions undertaken in particular in the following fields: situational awareness, resilience building, pre-bunking and contribution to a healthy information space, and mitigation;

G.

whereas Parliament is proactively supporting parliamentary democracy in a number of non-EU countries, including through the actions of the Democracy and Election Support Group (DEG); whereas the EU’s immediate neighbourhood is particularly important in this regard;

H.

whereas EU accession countries are facing challenges stemming from malign foreign interference and disinformation campaigns; whereas past developments have shown that non-enlargement has a serious strategic cost; whereas the Western Balkans are an area of strategic and geopolitical competition and some of its countries are prone to destabilisation, threatening the security and stability of our continent; whereas third countries are exploiting these vulnerabilities, including through strategic investments and disinformation campaigns; whereas the stability, security and democratic resilience of the accession countries are inextricably linked to the EU’s own security, stability and democratic resilience;

I.

whereas the aim of those interference campaigns in the Western Balkans is to negatively influence the growing euro-Atlantic orientation and stability of individual countries, and so change the orientation of the region as a whole; whereas Russia is using its influence in Serbia in an attempt to destabilise and interfere in neighbouring sovereign states: in Bosnia via the Republika Srpska; in Montenegro via the country’s pro-Serbian sentiments as well as the Serbian Orthodox Church; and in Kosovo by exploiting and inflaming existing disputes in the North of Kosovo; whereas Russia therefore still has notable influence in the Western Balkans, with the power to interfere in regional attempts at reconciliation, integration and reform towards democratisation;

J.

whereas initiatives such as the EU-funded RADAR project, from the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA, a pan-European consortium of leading research institutes and universities), aims to raise citizens’ awareness of disinformation and provide a public platform for debate, and the project has a special focus on youth in order to empower their voices, strengthen their engagement in civil society and improve their education on critical thinking and media literacy;

K.

whereas a holistic approach, encompassing our societies as a whole, is needed when educating and training European citizens of all ages, including specific training for people of working age and in schools to detect and be resilient against prospective disinformation operations and information manipulation; whereas a strategy should be established to pre-emptively show internet users videos and content on the tactics behind disinformation, which have the potential to make them more aware and resilient to misinformation and disinformation and increase the resilience of vulnerable population groups; whereas public awareness and constant dialogue with media is critical in this regard; whereas the central feature of communication success against disinformation is trust in the communicating institutions;

L.

whereas contemporary antisemitism takes many forms, including online hate speech and the (re-)emergence of new conspiracy theories, and whereas the EU has, within the framework of the EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life (2021-2030), established its commitment to a future free from antisemitism in the EU and beyond;

M.

whereas civil society organisations (CSOs) play an essential role as watchdogs, are key to building democratic resilience from within and protecting democracy, and support the combat against breaches of the rule of law while actively contributing to fostering the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights on the ground; whereas, specifically, CSOs play an important part in detecting and countering foreign interference in democratic processes; whereas CSOs play a critical role in developing self-regulation, enabling the creation of industry standards to fight disinformation, in particular in fields where any state actions may create mistrust; whereas when the participation of citizens and civil society in democratic processes is further strengthened, then the democracy as a whole is better fortified against the risk of foreign interference;

N.

whereas CSOs, think tanks, consulting agencies, foundations and companies themselves are not immune from experiencing such interference and, in some cases, may serve as the vehicle, tool or vector of influence from malicious actors, including third-country actors, directly sponsoring or instigating foreign interference and influencing policymakers; whereas transparency is key to ensure that these actors do not become and are not used as vessels for foreign interference and therefore clear rules for their influence must be observed and scrutinised; whereas some EU Member States have attempted to implement mechanisms to screen foreign governmental funding for CSOs, especially from Russia and China;

O.

whereas the EU support of CSOs through the Citizens Equality Rights and Values programme (CERV), stepped up efforts to support civil society organisations, in particular the smaller, local ones facing particular constraints; whereas certain Member States, through the national recovery and resilience programmes, have provided funding for capacity-building for fact-checking and tackling disinformation;

P.

whereas, in spite of certain available financial resources, including successful projects from EU funds and programmes, overall, the funding of CSOs and the media is fragmented, project-based and often comes from non-EU countries; whereas application procedures for financing should be transparent and accessible; whereas the Court of Auditors has concluded that the lack of a coherent EU media literacy strategy that includes tackling disinformation and the fragmentation of EU actions dilutes the impact of media literacy projects, and that many such projects have not demonstrated sufficient scale and reach;

Q.

whereas fact-based journalism plays a key role in a democratic society, upholding the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, impartiality, honesty and independence; whereas freedom of expression and of information are fundamental rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; whereas the tabloidisation of the media has a detrimental effect on the reliability of publically accessible information and the media landscape;

R.

whereas whistleblowers, journalists, CSOs, activists and human rights defenders are increasingly facing intimidation, intrusive surveillance and hacking, harassment and threats, including legal threats and abusive litigation; whereas they should be supported by the EU and its institutions; whereas strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), including those initiated by authorities of third countries against EU nationals or EU-based entities, are a serious threat to democracy and fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and information, as they are a means by which to prevent journalists and activists as well as broader civil society actors from speaking up on issues of public interest and to penalise them for doing so, and thus have a chilling effect on all actual or potential critical voices;

S.

whereas in the EU, there are cases of journalists whose existence and life are threatened as a result of their research into topics of public interest; whereas foreign powers are suspected of interfering in the Union and have extended repressive measures to territories within the Union in order to silence journalists who wish to report and denounce criminal acts; whereas an example of this is the strategy of judicial harassment being exercised by the Kingdom of Morocco against the Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero; whereas some journalists and human rights defenders that have been granted asylum in the EU are still the target of persecution, harassment, violence and assassination attempts; whereas the Member States should ensure their security and that they are able to continue their work;

T.

whereas reducing the effectiveness of malicious information manipulation, and in particular its effects on the functioning of democratic processes, is a matter of public interest; whereas disinformation decreases the ability of citizens to take informed decisions and to freely participate in democratic processes; whereas this situation is intensified by the rapid development of new types of media; whereas according to the Media Pluralism Monitor 2022, no country is at low risk for the indicator of ‘media viability’, reflecting the existing economic threats to media pluralism; whereas news media operating in smaller markets, including local, regional and niche media, face additional challenges as they have limited revenues, and are becoming less viable using current commercial business models and cannot embrace new ones in the same way that media operating in larger markets can; whereas, in addition, some Member States, which Russia considers its sphere of influence, are more exposed to geopolitical risks arising from Kremlin interference in their information space;

U.

whereas the promotion of media independence and pluralism and media literacy in tackling disinformation is one of the citizens’ proposals contained in the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe, published on 9 May 2022, where citizens called specifically for the EU to address threats to media independence through the establishment of EU-wide minimum standards as well as to defend and support free, pluralistic and independent media, to step up the fight against disinformation and foreign interference, and to ensure the protection of journalists; whereas the final report of the Conference of the Future of Europe also contained calls for setting up an EU body in charge of addressing and tackling targeted disinformation and interference, enhancing the cooperation of national cybersecurity authorities and legislation and guidelines for online platforms and social media companies to address disinformation vulnerabilities;

V.

whereas the integrity of the internal market for media services may be compromised and the polarisation of society fomented by media providers that systematically engage in disinformation, including information manipulation and interference of state-controlled media service providers financed by certain non-EU countries, such as China, Russia and Türkiye; whereas a highly concentrated and government-controlled media environment can lead to an informational autocracy, where the state or malign foreign actors can easily exert influence through the manipulation of information;

W.

whereas China has invested almost EUR 3 billion in European media firms over the last 10 years, without an adequate response from the EU and its Member States; whereas China’s example could be followed by other states with similar authoritarian political ideologies, entailing considerable risks for the integrity of European democracies and interference by other countries in the EU’s domestic affairs; whereas a number of Chinese state-run Confucius Institutes, which spread propaganda and interfere in academic institutions, are still functioning in the EU; whereas Chinese broadcast media represent and disseminate the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ideology; whereas Chinese bot accounts are increasingly active on social media and in social networking, serving the needs of the Chinese authorities;

X.

whereas a massive operation targeting international institutions, notably in Brussels and Geneva and serving Indian interests was recently uncovered by EU DisinfoLab, involving hundreds of fake media outlets and dozens of government-organised non-governmental organisations;

Y.

whereas only some EU Member States have screening mechanisms for foreign media investments in place; whereas it is in the public interest to know about the beneficial ownership structures of media outlets;

Z.

whereas important structural shortcomings facilitating information manipulation through online platforms still remain; whereas online platforms’ business models are based on personal data, algorithms that push extreme and divisive content and advertising, whereby more engagement means more advertising revenue, and the drive for engagement rewards divisive and extreme opinions at the expense of fact-based information; whereas online platforms are therefore designed in a way that helps to amplify conspiracy theories and disinformation; whereas these global online platforms in addition have had a vast disruptive impact on the economic viability of the European media sector, as they dominate the advertising market, thus impacting media business models;

AA.

whereas even though the Code of Practice on Disinformation was strengthened, many structural problems persist, such as the lack of binding rules and the provision whereby companies can choose their own commitments, which ultimately hinders the success of the Code of Practice as a tool;

AB.

whereas rapidly evolving generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could have potentially grave consequences that could enable malicious actors to produce and spread more disinformation content, cheaper and at a greater speed; whereas particularly devastating effects could be faced by countries across the world that lack resources to address this challenge;

AC.

whereas the Commission proposal on transparency and targeting of political advertising aims to address these structural problems in the context of political advertising;

AD.

whereas platforms have developed several initiatives to counter online disinformation, designing ‘pre-bunking’ campaigns to inform users about the dangers of disinformation by pre-emptively warning about and disproving false claims made through dis- and misinformation campaigns undertaken by malicious actors; whereas the effect of these initiatives cannot be fully evaluated owing to the absence of independent or institutionalised analyses by researchers with full access to the data;

AE.

whereas non-English language content is still substantially left unmonitored as platforms still do not employ a sufficient number of reviewers and fact-checkers able to perform their respective tasks in other languages, especially in smaller languages in countries gravely affected by disinformation; whereas online platforms should guarantee fundamental rights to citizens, such as freedom of expression and of information;

AF.

whereas since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, the company has introduced a crisis misinformation policy, according to which the company would take action in response to tweets that contain false or misleading allegations regarding use of force and weapons, and that it would respond by prioritising tweets from state-affiliated media accounts and place a warning notice that a tweet has violated the company’s crisis misinformation policy, but this approach was partially cancelled on 23 November 2022; whereas the company has fired the staff of all departments responsible for detecting, classifying or responding to disinformation, including a majority of content moderators and country-specific teams, and reinstated over 60 000 accounts which had previously been found to have broken the platform’s rules by sharing disinformation, engaging in harassment or abuse, or running scams; whereas since the takeover, there has been an increase of abusive content of about 40 %; whereas there have been repeated and intolerable suspensions of the accounts of journalists and media outlets without concrete justification;

AG.

whereas media reports on internal documents have raised questions about the political neutrality of the company’s efforts to implement its policies against foreign interference and disinformation in the 2020 US presidential election, and whether those efforts also amount to a form of interference in the political and wider social debate around the election, as the dozens of internal emails revealed that methods intended to counter disinformation and hate speech were being used by the main parties in the United States to control the electorate; whereas it remains unclear how Twitter is going to develop in the near future, owing to concerning statements and decisions taken by its new senior management;

AH.

whereas health dis- and misinformation is a serious threat to public health since it erodes public trust in science, public institutions, authorities and medical staff, as well as generating hostility towards them, and advances conspiracy theories; whereas such disinformation can be life-threatening when it deters people from seeking medically recommended treatments, including vaccinations, or promoting false treatments; whereas, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of COVID-19-related content that was not dealt with after having been fact-checked and found to consist of mis- or disinformation amounted to 20 % in German and Spanish, 47 % in French, and 84 % in Italian; whereas smaller languages were even more heavily impacted;

AI.

whereas networks of bots and fake accounts on social media platforms are used by malicious actors to undermine democratic processes; whereas Meta removed two networks originating in China and in Russia for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behaviour; whereas the network originating in Russia and composed of over 60 websites impersonated legitimate websites of news organisations in Europe and posted original articles that criticised Ukraine, supported Russia and argued that Western sanctions on Russia would backfire; whereas similar findings were made by EU DisinfoLab in its Doppelgänger investigation; whereas this is only the tip of the iceberg and online platforms constantly have to be vigilant and to improve their content moderation policies;

AJ.

whereas there is a lack of oversight over platforms such as Reddit and Telegram, where disinformation spreads mostly unchecked; whereas Spotify hosts podcasts containing mis- and disinformation content, in particular regarding vaccine disinformation; whereas some of them have up to 11 million listeners per episode; whereas the company has refused to take any actions against the accounts that broadcast the podcasts as it has no disinformation policy; whereas the EU has started multiple investigations into TikTok, concerning the transfer of EU’ citizens data to China and targeted advertising aimed at minors;

AK.

whereas the Digital Services Act (DSA) (15) entered into force on 16 November 2022 and will apply from 17 February 2024; whereas it fully harmonises the rules applicable to intermediary services in the internal market and contains specific provisions applicable to very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) when it comes to systemic risks such as disinformation and manipulation;

AL.

whereas the DSA creates obligations for VLOPs and VLOSEs to perform annual risk assessments and take measures to mitigate the risks stemming from the design and use of their services; whereas some provisions of the DSA should be extended to smaller platforms, on which disinformation keeps spreading unhindered;

AM.

whereas the DSA classifies disinformation and election manipulation as systemic risks;

AN.

whereas algorithms designed to benefit platforms’ business models play a crucial role in the amplification of false and misleading narratives, creating filter bubbles that limit or distort the information available to individual users; whereas platforms still have not done enough to counter this; whereas the development, testing and functioning of algorithms still lack transparency;

AO.

whereas social media platforms are used as tools, for example, to spread Russian propaganda seeking to justify Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and to foster anti-democratic political movements in the Balkans; whereas AI, through the malicious use of large language models (LLM), such as ChatGPT, is becoming an increasingly important tool used to spread propaganda and disinformation, but will also be crucial to more effectively discover and counter manipulated narratives; whereas there is a need to develop digital technologies with respect for human rights and the rule of law;

AP.

whereas the Commission set up a European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency, which is part of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, and is composed mainly of engineers and data scientists dedicated to the study of algorithms;

AQ.

whereas digital services coordinators, which are independent authorities appointed by each Member State, have an important role and function and are responsible for supervising and enforcing the DSA in the Member States;

AR.

whereas there is a risk of economic dependence, but also espionage and sabotage, with foreign companies acquiring influence over EU critical infrastructure; whereas Chinese shipping companies have acquired majority or sizeable interests in over 20 European ports, for example China Merchants Group in France and COSCO in the ports of Piraeus, Antwerp, Bilbao, Genoa, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Valencia and Zeebrugge; whereas the INGE 1 report called for a stronger regulatory and enforcement framework to ensure foreign direct investment (FDI) with a detrimental effect on the EU’s security is blocked;

AS.

whereas foreign actors, predominantly China and Russia, but also Iran, are actively trying to infiltrate European critical infrastructure and supply chains to steal information and/or know-how through espionage, in order to gain a competitive advantage or to sabotage parts of these infrastructures to impair their functioning; whereas the same malign behaviour is coupled with economic and infrastructure projects in candidate and potential EU candidate countries; whereas an increasing threat to European citizens also lies in the possibility of espionage and information gathering via everyday household appliances;

AT.

whereas the EU’s energy dependence on Russia has created enormous difficulties for its energy security after Russia started its war of aggression against Ukraine; whereas ‘corrosive capital’ projects by foreign actors in Member States, such as the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary, risk influencing political decisions; whereas despite Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of parts of Ukraine in 2014, many EU countries increased their gas dependency on Russia; whereas some of these countries have recently reduced their dependency to almost 0 %;

AU.

whereas the investment programmes for 5G deployment such as CEF2 Digital, as well as the 6G Programme of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking, could support technological sovereignty and reduce dependencies on foreign suppliers in this field by building secure 5G infrastructure as well as 6G technology capacities; whereas the development of critical technological infrastructure for the European economy should be reserved for European manufacturers and developers or those from like-minded countries;

AV.

whereas national authorities of some Member States have strengthened their approach to countering foreign threats to critical infrastructure, such as espionage and sabotage;

AW.

whereas disinformation and other information manipulation vitiates the public debate around elections and other democratic processes and can prevent citizens from making informed choices or discourage them from political participation altogether; whereas disinformation in political campaigns is a direct threat to fair democratic political competition; whereas these issues present a challenge to the 2024 European elections;

AX.

whereas on the eve of the 2024 European elections increased interference and information manipulation activity is expected; whereas the European elections are fundamental to the functioning of the democratic processes of the European Union, promoting its stability and legitimacy; whereas the democratic integrity of the Union must therefore be defended, including by preventing the spread of disinformation and undue foreign influence over European elections; whereas the proposal on the transparency and targeting of political advertising could make a contribution by establishing a ban on sponsors of political advertising coming from non-EU countries;

AY.

whereas free and fair elections are a cornerstone of democratic countries, and independent and transparent electoral processes are necessary to foster a competitive electoral environment and citizens’ trust in election integrity; whereas the systemic integrity of electoral processes is also entrenched in the legal and institutional frameworks governing how elections are conducted, including electoral management bodies; whereas the quality and the strength of these frameworks and democratic institutions are essential to the electoral integrity of any country; whereas online social platforms are increasingly important instruments in electoral decision-making;

AZ.

whereas interference in electoral processes can occur in different ways, either direct or indirect, such as fraudulent operations with ballots, the blocking of entrances to polling stations or physical coercion to vote, the distribution of distorted information on candidates, the manipulation of or changes to election dates, and disinformation campaigns on social media, among others;

BA.

whereas authoritarian regimes have become more effective at co-opting or circumventing norms and institutions that support basic liberties, and at providing aid to others who wish to do the same; whereas these regimes have fuelled and exploited polarisation, through proxies in third countries and in the EU, and have attempted to distort national politics to promote hatred, violence and unbridled power; whereas foreign interference in electoral processes is often not aimed exclusively at influencing specific election results but at undermining or destroying citizens’ long-term confidence in the legitimacy of their democratic institutions as well as their democratic processes;

BB.

whereas the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations contributes to the protection of the integrity of the European elections;

BC.

whereas the European cooperation network on elections plays a crucial role in ensuring the integrity of the elections within the European Union; whereas this network has been set up by the Commission’s services with the relevant Member States’ services;

BD.

whereas extra-EU funding of political activities and politicians inside the European Union before and after 24 February 2022, in particular from Russia, continues to be revealed by journalists and experts, puts at risk the integrity of the democratic functioning of the EU Member States and requires thorough investigation to hold those complicit accountable; whereas El País has revealed the involvement of the Iranian National Council of Resistance in the funding of far-right political movements in the EU; whereas Russia and Iran, together with other countries such as Venezuela, share a common goal of weakening democratic states;

BE.

whereas the legislators are currently negotiating the proposal on political advertising which aims to complement the DSA, tackle the harmful fragmentation that currently exists in this area and help to strengthen our democracies in Europe and our democratic processes, allow citizens to make an educated decision during an election or referendum through an open process and shelter EU citizens from disinformation, fake news, opaque political advertising techniques and foreign interference in general; whereas the legislators should reach an agreement on the proposal as soon as possible in order to ensure that the new rules are in place before the European elections in 2024;

BF.

whereas in the first half of 2021 alone, there were as many recorded cyberattacks on EU institutions as in the whole of 2020 (16); whereas instances of attacks on EU and national institutions have increased following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, as exemplified by a cyberattack that hit the European Parliament during the November 2022 plenary session, shutting down the website after a vote on a resolution to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism;

BG.

whereas the EU has significantly increased its efforts and investments in developing cybersecurity capacities, including through the EU programmes Horizon Europe and Digital Europe; whereas there is still a need for more efficient cybersecurity supported by the relevant funding; whereas strong cybersecurity infrastructure could reduce the costs of cyber-incidents; whereas the impact assessment of the proposed cyber resilience act estimates that the initiative could lead to a cost reduction from incidents affecting businesses of roughly EUR 180 to 290 billion (17); whereas the Commission has been slow to take measures in response to the hacking of EU citizens in the EU with spyware by third countries, including of prominent figures such as heads of state or commissioners; whereas there is currently no action plan in place to prevent the hacking of EU citizens within the EU by people operating outside the EU;

BH.

whereas the Council has recently adopted the NIS2 Directive to ensure a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union; whereas the NIS2 Directive has established the EU Cyber Crises Liaison Organisation Network (EU CyCLONe), which will strengthen the resilience of information systems; whereas a proper level of cybersecurity can only be achieved through the cooperation of multiple actors from the public and private sectors; whereas the EU still faces major dependencies in the field of cybersecurity;

BI.

whereas the cyber defence of Ukraine requires the action and the cooperation of all partners; whereas western IT corporations have provided assistance to Ukraine in identifying vulnerabilities in its infrastructure; whereas there is a lack of technical capacities within the EU to identify vulnerabilities in its critical infrastructure; whereas cooperation and exchange of information with targeted partners, such as the US, the UK, Ukraine and Taiwan, is key to improving the EU’s capacity to attribute attacks;

BJ.

whereas the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking was established in 2021 to enable European actors to shape global 6G standards; whereas collaboration between the Commission and Member State authorities on the implementation of the 5G cyber toolbox is ongoing in the framework of the Network and Information Systems (NIS) cooperation group; whereas the European Court of Auditors has concluded that since the 5G toolbox was adopted, progress has been made in reinforcing the security of 5G networks with a majority of Member States applying or in the process of applying restrictions on high-risk vendors, but that none of the measures put forward are legally binding, meaning that the Commission has no power to enforce them;

BK.

whereas there have been instances of third countries transporting migrants and asylum-seekers to the EU’s external border as part of their hybrid foreign interference strategies to challenge the EU and its Member States, such as in the autumn of 2021 by Belarus against Poland, Lithuania and Latvia; whereas these hybrid interference attempts also take the form of spreading disinformation by polarising the EU’s societies and undermining European values and fundamental rights;

BL.

whereas migrants, minorities and diasporas are frequently used by foreign actors, who orchestrate disinformation campaigns to exploit and amplify negative preconceptions about migration to build up tensions within European societies, such as with the Ukrainian diaspora being the victim of targeted Russian disinformation campaigns; whereas platforms play a key role in the dissemination of such information;

BM.

whereas Europe is seeing a growing number of anti-gender movements, specifically targeting sexual and reproductive health, women’s rights and LGBTIQ+ people; whereas such movements proliferate disinformation in order to reverse progress in women’s rights and gender equality; whereas these movements have been reported to receive millions of euros in foreign funding, either public or private, including from Russia and the US;

BN.

whereas this instrumentalisation of migrants and minorities at the EU’s external borders highlights the importance of having an effective and integrated border management system and of applying operational, financial and diplomatic measures to remain resilient;

BO.

whereas Parliament supports the Commission’s proposal to include provisions on the instrumentalisation of migrants in the Schengen Borders Code, which will enable Member States to act in a more effective and coordinated manner;

BP.

whereas Russian disinformation and propaganda campaigns also influence indirect opinion forming in Europe by focusing on the Russian-speaking diaspora in Europe and neighbouring countries; whereas Member States should play a key role in making fact-based news sources available for Russian-speaking population groups, in order to counter the pro-Kremlin narrative; whereas Russian disinformation and propaganda campaigns are also widespread in numerous post-Soviet countries, including in Central Asia;

BQ.

whereas the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation regarding suspicions of money laundering, corruption and participation in a criminal organisation originating from third countries; whereas several arrests and searches took place from 9 December 2022 onwards, affecting both current and former Members of the European Parliament, as well as staff; whereas these allegations need to be followed by effective measures by Parliament and the other EU institutions to close the loopholes for foreign interference, as well as to increase transparency and accountability in order to protect the integrity of the institutions;

BR.

whereas trust in Parliament’s integrity and the rule of law is paramount for the functioning of European democracy; whereas it is key to ensure that democratic processes are not captured by private and external interests and that citizens’ rights are fully respected; whereas the ability of interest and group representatives to influence decision-making in Parliament by way of arguments is a vital part of European democracy;

BS.

whereas the INGE I report already highlighted that there is a serious lack of legally binding rules regarding lobbying and enforcement of the EU’s lobbying register, and that former high-level European politicians and civil servants are often hired or co-opted by foreign authoritarian state-controlled national or private companies; whereas this makes it practically impossible to track lobbying coming from outside the EU;

BT.

whereas the capture of elites by foreign interests, facilitated by the non-restriction of ‘revolving doors’ between the EU institutions and autocratic countries with a high risk of harmful interference against the democratic interests of the Union, continues to represent a significant form of foreign interference in the democratic functioning of the European Union and can be considered an issue related to corruption;

BU.

whereas China and Russia have imposed sanctions on European researchers and research institutions owing to their writings or views;

BV.

whereas more clarity is needed regarding foreign influence through interest representatives at the EU level, especially in cooperation with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), consultancies, foundations, think tanks and private companies; whereas this should not prevent the normal outreach activities of embassies; whereas the number of Russian Embassy staff is decreasing around Europe, while it keeps rising in Budapest, proving that Hungary is susceptible to Russian intelligence activities;

BW.

whereas lobbying on behalf of foreign interests, especially when it concerns companies in strategic sectors and their governments, may open the door to foreign interference in our institutions; whereas the Transparency Register was significantly strengthened following an interinstitutional agreement; whereas strengthening transparency requirements for CSOs, consultancies, foundations, think tanks and private companies could serve the purpose of detecting foreign interference;

BX.

whereas there have been several cases of hostile intimidation and harassment campaigns against Members of the European Parliament orchestrated and coordinated by foreign countries; whereas countries such as Russia, China and Iran have put entry bans and sanctions on individual Members and bodies of the European Parliament and Member State parliaments, because of their criticism to the respective governments’ human rights policies;

BY.

whereas some authoritarian states are falsely accusing European citizens of having committed crimes or offences and are holding them in prison in order to influence the decisions of EU Member States; whereas citizens are currently being held and convicted in Iran without any justification, including the Swedish national Ahmadreza Djalali and seven French nationals;

BZ.

whereas in March 2022 the EU imposed sanctions on the Russian propaganda outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, temporarily suspending their broadcasting activity, as well as ordering internet access providers and search engines to block access and search engines to de-index their content; whereas since the adoption of the ninth package of sanctions, satellite operators such as France’s Eutelsat and Luxembourg’s SES have ceased to provide broadcasting services in the EU to RT and Sputnik; whereas Eutelsat 36B continues to broadcast programming by Russian Trikolor and NTV plus in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia; whereas SES continues to broadcast RT News in India, Mexico and South Africa; whereas other national satellite operators such as Hellas Sat and Hispasat, as well as Hungarian national channels, continue to broadcast sanctioned TV channels; whereas RT France and RT News are still available online; whereas Russian propaganda is often amplified by various international media outlets with very wide reach in certain regions of the world;

CA.

whereas in clear contradiction of the EU’s imposed sanctions, Serbia, an EU candidate country, has become a safe haven for some Russian companies looking to evade or weather out sanctions imposed by the EU, as since July 2022, Belgrade has been hosting multiple offices of RT (formerly Russia Today), which has launched its online news service in Serbian;

CB.

whereas criminalisation of foreign interference would target and stigmatise this malign behaviour; whereas there is currently no general prohibition on foreign interference in the EU, meaning that perpetrators may engage in it without fear of penalty, unless their conduct amounts to an existing offence; whereas pursuant to the third subparagraph of Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), on the basis of developments in crime, the Council may adopt a decision identifying other areas of particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension; whereas there is a need to impose sanctions and place restrictions on perpetrators of foreign interference to prevent them from taking future actions;

CC.

whereas the Commission has proposed to harmonise criminal offences and penalties for the violation of EU sanctions; whereas a number of Member States have considered extending the competences of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in order to cover these violations;

CD.

whereas the EU has already developed several important pieces of legislation to counter malign foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI); whereas there is a danger that EU regulatory frameworks to combat disinformation may be copied and might be selectively used by other (authoritarian) countries in order to curb media freedom and freedom of expression; whereas an evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of existing instruments on the strengthening of societal resilience has not been properly undertaken at EU level; whereas such an evaluation would further improve the orientation of future policies and tools to address foreign interference and hybrid threats;

CE.

whereas, following its economic growth and political expansion on the global stage, China is trying to maximise the diffusion of its propaganda abroad, spreading positive narratives regarding the country while simultaneously attempting to suppress critical voices; whereas China is taking control of all of the traditional media information channels in Africa, which are still the continent’s most used tools for accessing information; whereas Russia is also expanding its disinformation operations in Africa; whereas the Wagner Group is directly involved in those operations; whereas those operations could jeopardise the safety of European citizens and the development of cooperation with African partner states;

CF.

whereas the EU is taking a leading role in the work of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime, under the UN Third Committee, with the aim of safeguarding the fundamental and procedural rights of suspects;

CG.

whereas the overall awareness of the dangers of information manipulation and interference in other countries in the world has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic; whereas the UN has proposed several initiatives to enhance governance in the digital sphere and create more coherence among UN member states, such as the Global Code of Conduct to promote the integrity of public information and the Global Digital Compact;

CH.

whereas in discussions with the ING2 Special Committee, representative of some platforms and other stakeholders have reacted positively to the establishment of global standards, and in particular European and, when possible, transatlantic standards, in countering FIMI;

CI.

whereas successful common foreign and security policy (CFSP) / common security and defence policy (CSDP) missions and operations and EU delegations abroad are among the best strategic communication campaigns by the EU in non-EU countries;

CJ.

whereas the Council approved the Strategic Compass in March 2022; whereas the Strategic Compass outlines that by 2024 all CSDP/CFSP missions and operations should be equipped with sufficient strategic communications tools and resources to counter FIMI; whereas a process of modernisation and professionalisation in missions communication is required, including supporting initiatives to combat disinformation vulnerabilities; whereas the European External Action Service (EEAS) Strategic Communication Task Force (StratCom) has stepped up its cooperation with CSDP missions and operations to help them detect, analyse and understand FIMI campaigns;