Emil ANDERSEN

What Emil ANDERSEN has said (5)

• “We are also working closely with member states. Environment ministers met in April and discussed climate and environment disinformation. They concluded that disinformation is a growing concern and expressed broad support for closer cooperation in the field of environment and climate. Ministers stressed the importance of communication and evidence based policy to ensure transparency and credibility. Education and training also play a crucial role in building media literacy and encouraging critical thinking and fact checking. The need to communicate in national context and language is indispensable. At the same time, however, ministers call for collaboration among communication experts at European level to help enhance the speed, effectiveness and efficiency of the response. As a follow up, we have established a disinformation correspondence network connecting environment ministries across the EU. The group met for the first time in April and will meet again right after the summer. It's very much a work in progress. As I said, we are all learning by doing and learning as we can from those who have best practices to share, but we see a lot of potential for mutual learning and cooperation. The aim is to stay agile and complement Member states own efforts. We work in an open and transparent fashion, inviting various institutional actors and other interested parties to participate and contribute to the discussion and exchange of good practices. Therefore, I would also like to use the opportunity of today's meeting to extend a warm invitation to the European Parliament in general, and this committee in particular, to take part in this work. Thank you. And with that, I'll hand over to my colleague.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, honourable members. Let me start by thanking the Committee for inviting the commission to contribute to this important reflection, a reflection that intersects policymaking and public discourse. The intentional spread of false information, or also so-called disinformation, poses significant challenges as we confront a triple crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity biodiversity loss. The integrity of information is paramount. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Risk Report. Disinformation is the single biggest short term risk to the world. In the same report that came out earlier this year. The ten year horizon is dominated by environmental and climate change related risks, be it extreme weather events, Biodiversity loss or ecosystem collapse. So where is this? This and misinformation are much wider phenomena. This backdrop, I think in itself is a very good reason to organize a dedicated discussion on this information in this particular field. So so thank you very much for that. Disinformation and misinformation also are not new phenomena as such. What is really new here is the speed with which they travel, and the employment of evolving technologies that enable the dressing of an untruth in a coat of fake credibility as a European public institution, the Commission is deeply committed to building and safeguarding the framework conditions that enable an inclusive, fact based democratic conversation. As citizens of a free society, we each entitled to our own opinions but not entitled to our own facts. That is the basis upon which generations after generations of Europeans have successfully built inclusive, competitive and prosperous societies. So we can have our own opinions. We cannot have our own facts.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, honourable members for your various comments and questions. Uh, between ourselves, we will, we will we will try to divide a bit the replies. Uh, me coming from environment, my colleague coming from Gigi. So we will try to try to address a bit in that order. Uh, both. Uh, Mrs. Tim Grant and, uh, Madame Rosa, uh, addressed the question of, uh, funding for, uh, civil society organisations, including under the live programme of, uh, of the commission. Uh, I think it's the the straightforward reply here is that, first of all, in response to, uh, Mrs. Graham's intervention, the Commission ensures full transparency with regard to which are the organizations that receive such funding. And there is a fully transparent process around the around the selection. More, more generally, we can say that the objective of the commission is to take an approach to NGO funding that balances, on the one hand, the need for a healthy and independent civil society, which we consider essential to a well-functioning public debate. Secondly, on the other hand, of course, it is crucial to protect the financial interests of the EU and avoid any reputational reputational risks to to the work of the EU institutions. Um, secondly, uh, on the question, uh, raised by Mr. Hof, um, which which was I think I don't know if it was more of a of a comment related to to the green claims, uh, directive. Uh, just for the for the for the record, uh, the commission was, uh, ready and available for the third round of, of of trilogues even if in the end it did not take place. And then I think with that I will give the floor back to my, my colleague on the more climate related issues.”
  Green claims · Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Regulation of NGOs in Europe
• “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I maybe start with because several, several speakers, uh, have picked up on the distinction we made in the initial intervention on the difference between opinion and facts in their own rights. Both opinions and facts are indispensable to a thriving democratic conversation. This is not what is being questioned. But while facts should continue to shape our opinions, our opinions must never be allowed to color the facts now. So who decides what is fact? The commission doesn't decide what is fact. Peer peer reviewed. Science decides what is fact. And this is what underpins the policymaking of the Commission. The provision of evidence based information enables the public to shape qualified opinions, and thereby contribute to our ongoing European conversation in the long run. And I think there was also one of one of the honourable members that that that mentioned the education, but also generally the dissemination of scientific facts. I therefore, in the Commission's opinion, the most effective way to build defences against disinformation. However, in the medium term, we need to complement with concrete strategies and tools that are level with the disinformation challenge that we face. This may also include as as was evoked by by one speaker. Uh, fact checking, for instance. Uh, again, checking the statements against what science is telling us. And this will continue to be the policy of the Commission. Developing and deploying those tools is the responsibility of everybody who cares to defend our democratic, European way of life, regardless, again, of differing opinions on policy. We all need to stand on a common basis and then we can have a democratic conversation. So we look forward to deepening our exchange and work together in this endeavor. And with that, I will close the statement from the Commission. And thank you very much again for inviting us to participate this morning.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms · Transparency and oversight of AI-generated content · Transparency requirements for interest groups
• “So how in the Commission do we work on disinformation in the field of climate change and environment? Monitoring and addressing disinformation are relatively new activities. Um, and it's a field in constant movements as it evolves with the public landscape and with technological developments, as I already mentioned. So we are very much in a mode of learning by doing both inside and outside the commission. Uh, people are working on developing approaches to dealing with disinformation. And we strive to learn from each other and collaborate with entities that share our commitment to transparency and democracy. Firstly, we give high priority to interinstitutional collaboration. Working together is essential to develop policies that strengthen European democracies, that make it more difficult to misuse online platforms, to manipulate information, and to help protect media pluralism. Within the European Commission, we align our efforts closely with DG communication, who runs a so-called network against disinformation. Through this structure, we collaborate with other directorates and their policy initiatives, such as the new Task Force for disinformation, the Digital Services Act, which regulates online platforms. The Code of Practices Against Disinformation, um, through which fact checkers can flag false claims and, uh, flag them up to the media platforms, which which in turn has committed to review and potentially take them down. And then the ongoing work on an EU democracy shield, which is being elaborated very closely with uh rapporteur Madame Loiseau and which, among other things, is expected to be looking at the integrity of the information space. Finally, the monitoring of foreign information manipulation and interference is a high priority, principally concentrated in the external Action Service.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms · Foreign interference in Europe