The European Commission is preparing to present its latest plan to protect the bloc and EU candidate countries from foreign interference and political manipulation.
The "democracy shield," as it's being called, is a collection of proposals to be rolled out in the coming years. An advanced draft of the document, seen by RFE/RL, emphasizes that Russia is the main direct threat to both the European Union and those nations aiming to join the bloc.
The European Commission will present the plan on November 12.
"In addition to its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is also escalating hybrid attacks, waging a battle of influence against Europe. The tactics used are reaching deep into the fabric of our societies, with potentially long-lasting impacts," the draft says.
"By spreading deceitful narratives, sometimes including the manipulation and falsification of historical facts, they try to erode trust in democratic systems."
No other country is mentioned in the 30-page-text, even though the bloc has previously voiced worries about China's attempt to wield political influence throughout the continent.
The Disinformation Age
The issue of fighting disinformation and foreign interference is controversial both in Brussels and beyond.
The EU is still reeling from the broadside fired by the US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in February in which he argued that the danger for the EU wasn't coming from China or Russia but rather internally via censorship and suppression of dissent and voices.
The criticism came shortly after Romania's Constitutional Court in December 2024 annulled the result of the first round of voting in the presidential election just days before the second round was due to take place.
The court ruled that the Kremlin had run an online campaign to promote nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu, who finished first. Many critics accused the court of political interference in an election and impinging on free speech.
The European Commission is therefore treading carefully.
While part of that caution comes because many of these issues are the competence of individual member states, it's also because Brussels is wary of being even more antagonistic toward large online platforms, notably US-based ones such as Google, Microsoft and Meta, as transatlantic relations have become unpredictable with trade wars and fears of the United States pulling out more troops from the Continent.
Yet the draft suggests the EU must engage with these tech giants. Most of them, with the glaring exception of Elon Musk's X, have signed up to the EU's Code of Conduct on Disinformation, which means companies such as Facebook and TikTok provide regular updates to the European Commission on how they're addressing the issue.
Calling Out Artificial Intelligence
The paper suggests the European Commission should push such companies to do more to "demonetize disinformation" and improve the detection and labeling of AI-generated and manipulated content.
The focus of the "democracy shield" is threefold: improving situational awareness, supporting democratic institutions and free media, and boosting citizen engagement.
The main proposal is for the creation of a European Center for Democratic Resilience. This would be a hub that would "link together existing networks and structures working on prevention, detection, analysis, and response to patterns of threats in the information space, and work to develop joint approaches, practices and methodologies and exchanging relevant data and analyses."
The EU tried this once before, in 2019, but the Rapid Alert System never really took off. This second attempt will involve EU institutions, member states, and even candidate countries such as Moldova and Ukraine as well as those in the Western Balkans.
The European Commission, however, wants to make it clear this isn't some sort of Ministry of Truth. The plans would be rolled out gradually, participation will be voluntary, and the center will operate in "respect EU and national competences."
Closely Observing Elections
Other ideas include the roll-out of an "EU digital identity wallet" next year for EU citizens and residents, the creation of a European network of fact-checkers who will work on a fact-checking repository, and "a voluntary network of influencers to raise awareness about relevant EU rules and promote the exchange of best practice."
Recalling September's parliamentary election in Moldova, in which Russia was heavily involved in trying to shape the outcome, the draft also suggests that EU election observation missions outside the bloc should be strengthened "to assist national authorities throughout the electoral cycle" -- something Brussels is likely to do again in next year's hotly contested parliamentary elections in Armenia.
In the same fashion, there is also a proposal to extend the mandate of the European Digital Media Observatory, which provides research and analysis on disinformation campaigns. It will now get more funding to do more work around elections, not only in EU member states but also partner countries.
The financial backing of independent media and journalism in the EU neighborhood, including Belarus and Russia, is also mentioned in the paper.
No concrete sums are mentioned. However, many of the programs suggested under the "democracy shield" are currently included in the European Commission's 2 trillion euro ($2.3 trillion) proposal for the next seven-year EU budget, starting in 2028.
