Nathalie LOISEAU

Policy topics Nathalie LOISEAU is active on

What Nathalie LOISEAU has said (80)

• “Uh, they carried out monitoring activities, and they showed that a shocking amount of meta adverts, uh, were actually linked to the oligarch Ilan Shor and his network. Now, the media maintained information integrity thanks to enhanced fact checking. There was a reporting and investigations and, um. We also had reports on interference activities. And all of this happened despite the disinformation campaigns that tried to undermine their credibility. The turnout was also very impressive, 52.21%. So the citizens took a very played a very important role here. We're talking about a massive turnout of the diaspora as well, 280,000 votes abroad. And this shows that the Moldovan voters also rose to the occasion and did their best. So the EU has also helped Moldova. Prepare and resist attempts, um, to have this electoral interference, especially by creating a new platform, the European Media Observatory, a regional platform, a regional platform. There were stress tests when it came to digital hybrid threats. And of course we had the EU PM as well. But of course Russia wanted to win because they wanted to throw a spanner in the works and make it more difficult for Moldova to join the EU, that the path was going to be longer, and of course, to try and make take advantage of strategic opportunities when it came to its war in Ukraine.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much, Commissioner, for being with us today. It's three months now since the presentation of the joint communication by the Commission and the High Representative on the 12th of November that took place. And we hope soon that the European Democracy Shield will take place, particularly the European Centre for Democratic Resilience on the 29th of January. There was a first technical meeting for the centre in Brussels and obviously we're keen to hear from you. Yesterday there was a meeting at the General Affairs Council to mark the political launch of the centre, and we felt that this was the right moment to see you here again. And we're always delighted to see you here in this committee. I'd like to give you the floor to tell us about the deployment of the European Democracy Shield. I give you about ten minutes.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Colleagues good afternoon everyone. I will be speaking in French. Says the chair, apologies I was detained elsewhere. I had a trialogue to complete and I wanted to start this public part of our meeting to confirm that the information that you've already received, which is extension of the special committee's mandate for this extra month, is in accordance with the request that was made by the coordinators. I'm very happy to see that we can continue our work and we will adapt in line with the Commission's agenda, which we're still awaiting in the form of a communication. I think there's quite a few of us here who are all convinced that this is very important. Those who are having conversations, could I ask you to take those conversations outside of the room please? It's better for those within the room. Colleagues and guests, I would like to open up this next item on Russian influence operations through clergy in the EU's neighborhood by beginning with a quote from the Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who stated at the last plenary session. He joined us in Strasbourg and reminded us that interference did not start and end on the day of the election. This is a permanent effort aimed at dividing us over the long term. Like a virus, she finds the weak points of our organisms. The President also continued by mentioning among these flaws the abuse of the freedoms conferred by our democratic systems themselves and in particular the freedom of religious expression when it's transformed into a tool for propaganda from outside of these targeted countries. Russia has been able to engage in this type of activity. It has set out its political ambitions by declaring itself to be the third Rome and defining expansion as a divine mission aimed at protecting and leading Orthodox Christianity. After the October 1917 revolution, religion fell into disgrace. A large part of the clergy was executed or sent to the Gulag. Given this historical context, it strikes us as somewhat ironic that, as Commissioner Kos reminded us also during the last plenary session, one of Russia's blatant lies about the upcoming parliamentary elections in Moldova is that the European Union wanted to destroy all Orthodox churches upon Moldova's accession to the European Union. The Soviet approach changed during the Stalinist period when religion was used as an instrument of societal cohesion in the face of the war that was raging. After 1944, it was instrumentalized in Eastern Europe. Rather than destroying it, the Soviet states have put in place a system of progressive taxation and co-optation of the Orthodox Church. Churches lost their land, financing, institutional independence, while priests were placed on state wages, creating direct control. In the post-Soviet era, and in particular with Putin's arrival in power, the Orthodox Church has once again become a main instrument of state power and expansionist justifications. The implications for Europe's security are profound. Through the concept of canonic territory, Moscow Patriarchate claims that religious authority is exerted over all territories of the former Russian Empire, providing ideological justification for political interference and territorial claims. This religious imperialism operates through sophisticated networks which combine traditional clerical authority with modern digital manipulation techniques. Beyond the former borders, we also see in Montenegro that the strategy is particularly visible. In the 2020 parliamentary elections, there was Russian influence through the Serbian Orthodox Church, which brought to power for the first time since the country's independence a Russian coalition. The church played a central role in selecting candidates and mobilizing voters, and here we're talking about a candidate country and a member of NATO. Moreover, this success has encouraged similar operations to flourish across the region. The methods are the same. They've been transposed in Moldova where Orthodox priests received luxury trips to Moscow, financial incentives to try to exert influence over the 2024 referendum on EU membership. In Georgia, the Georgian Orthodox Church has become one of the main vectors of anti-European narratives, particularly by, and I quote, family values. Russia's interference extends beyond the Orthodox Church to instrumentalize various Christian confessions including the Armenian Apostolic Church. At the end of June, two prominent archbishops were arrested in a criminal case of attempted takeover. The Armenian government also accused the church leader Karakin of supporting the so-called Russian-inspired coup and called upon him to resign. These events occurred in the context of the country's strategic reorientation and distancing itself from Russia's sphere of influence after Russia's inaction in 2020 and then the 2023 conflict of the Armenians. To aid our understanding of this phenomenon of the church being used by Russia in order to extend its sphere of influence and weigh in on sovereign nations, we've called two leading experts who have joined us online today whose research and experience will provide us with some valuable insights into these challenges that these candidate countries are facing but more broadly EU member states. The first is Tornica Gorazze, the senior researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute. His research focuses on disinformation, religious manipulation, and political interference in Georgia and the wider Eastern Partnership region. Mr. Gorazze brings a unique perspective because he's not merely an academic; he's also a practitioner. He was Georgia's chief negotiator for the Association Agreement with the EU and Minister of State for European and Euro-Atlantic integration. In these roles, he was directly confronted with Russian influence operations and attempts to manipulate the church and the state. Professor Lucien Lyustian teaches political science and international relations at the University of Aston. He is recognized for his expertise on the intersection of religion and electoral dynamics, especially in Eastern Europe. His research provides an overview of how religious personalities can shape political preferences and electoral behavior with a particular focus on Romania and broader post-communist context. I will now give the speakers the floor for seven minutes each and I'll start with Tornica Gorazze, please.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “So thank you very much to all of you for this discussion today. It was, I think, really interesting. Really needed. Next election is next Sunday in Bulgaria. So let's cross fingers not on the results, but that the election itself is immune from foreign interferences. Thank you very much. Have a”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Communities was targeted by Russia friendly actors and even priests who were trained online in social media. We were informed of a global strategy with the aim to co-opt an entire region using their linguistic and ethnic background. There are a number of there's a lot of support against the adhesion to the EU. It seems that there are increasing efforts to instrumentalized grievance groups in the country. We were impressed by what's going on in civic education, by the ministry where? School programs have been updated and facts have been set straight. We also spoke to the Maldivian Center for Strategic Communication and Fight Against Disinformation and the leader of Travancore. She came to speak to her committee two months ago. This center uses similar structures as we have in the EU. It's interesting to see how they tackle challenges in a country that is on the front lines. When it comes to information manipulation. But let's remember that we're all in the front line. Learn. Moldovan resilience when it comes to their efforts to safeguard democratic institutions and fight hybrid threats are an inspiration. They deserve our attention and our support with a view to keeping them independent and preparing their accession to the European Union. I would now encourage other members of the delegation to share their impressions. Mika Aaltola is here today. I'm happy to hand over to you.”
  EU-Moldova relations
• “Good morning all. I suggest we start, and I switch immediately to my mother tongue, which is French. So please grab your headphones. So we're going to start by adopting our agenda for today. We have no comments, so the agenda can be adopted. We have 16 languages interpretation, German, English, Czech, Danish, Spanish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Swedish. There is an e file for the meeting, which is available. The report of our EUDS mission in Poland and, Lithuania is available on the web page of the EUDS. Now we move on to the adoption of the minutes from the 04/15/2026, the, April 27 and the May 4. If there are no comments, then they are adopted. We move on now, to exchange reviews with, commissioner Vera Shudova. I don't think she needs a lengthy introduction as most of us are familiar with her already. But let me mention her work as a former vice president of the European Commission for, values and transparency, also previous role as European Commissioner for, justice working for consumers, gender equality. So we know the role that you have played there when it came to support of democracy, a pluralistic media. So we thank you very much for that work. You are now leading a new project on the future of democracy in the EU. We see that European democratic societies have very much been, targeted by external forces, and, often this is exacerbated by internal instabilities as well. We see that the digital sphere is very important in terms of democracy as well, so we need to look at participation models that reflect those changes. Having an impartial reflection on what works and what doesn't in our democratic models is very important. So, Vera, I give you the floor now for 10 minutes.”
  EU engagement with citizens
• “Well, colleagues will try to start. Unfortunately, our guest speaker from Ottawa cannot be connected. We have tried again and again, but it's not working. Uh, so, um, and unfortunately, we have one member of our committee present. So we are waiting for, uh, another one. And, uh, I will, uh, give the floor to, uh, Mr. Sebastian Aubertin Gigot, uh, from Public Safety Canada. Uh, for five minutes of introduction, and I hope other MEPs will come. We had decided to have this item on, uh, information manipulation and interferences and the way Canada is handling them and recent decisions taken by Canada. Um, at a moment where, uh, in the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have voted, uh, a report to, uh, advocate for stronger relations between Canada and the European Union. So, Mr. Aubertin, the floor is yours.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you. I would have an additional question. Canada is a country of migration with a lot of different foreign diaspora present in the country. How do you deal with the use of this diaspora as targets of enemies, or as vectors of enemies as well? Is there a specific practice that Canada is trying to have and that you could share with us? So now I give the floor back to Sebastian.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “So, Commissioner, before giving you the floor, um, I have a small, very small additional question because we heard about billions and billions of euros for the center. I was not exactly aware of it. Uh, we heard of a mega center. I was not aware of it. So can you clarify? Because the question was already asked, uh, how many people was the size of the staff of the center that was just inaugurated? Thank you.”
  European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training
• “I would like to thank our guest speakers for being present today. Um, but also I would like to thank Europol and Olaf for their amazing work. But, uh, we heard what you said and what was said in the previous panel. That is to say that the financing of foreign interferences is only booming and using more and more, uh, uh, methods, including Cryptocurrencies that we have to give our national law enforcement agencies, but also Europol more means and more, uh, legal uh, grounds to to find against the fight against foreign interferences. And this is our responsibility as, um, members of the parliament to to do so. I also would like to echo, uh, what was said about Mafia states, because you're a nice enough not to list them all. And unfortunately, the list is getting bigger and bigger at the moment where we are speaking right now, leaders of opposition parties in Georgia are being convicted and sent to prison for the only reason that they are political opposition. Uh, this shows us, uh, to what extent a mafia state can go to keep its own power despite rigged elections. So we will, uh, and this point of the agenda. And I'll switch again to my mother tongue.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “The economic backdrop is, of course, problematic. We have seen political interference, but also in general, an information environment which is more and more subject to manipulation. So the conditions in the area of media are deteriorating rapidly. And this is a threat not just to the freedom of the press and the free media, but to democracy itself. And this is why this hearing is so important to the two committees. We are going to hear eminent representatives from the European journalists and people from the public sector talking about the media. And we are going to look also at resilience in the whole sector of the media and how we can maintain, preserve and protect the integrity of the media and the independence of the media. In a digital environment where there is increasing economic and political pressure being put on them. So, first of all, I will now hand over the chairmanship to Miss Rio, who chairs the culture committee. Thank you very much. For me, two very warm welcome. The free media is a basis of which underpins our democracy. And we see at the moment that both the political and societal context is changing rapidly. And this has major impacts. We have seen legislation on the protection of the media, and we have seen how important it is that we implement this.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “And now we're going to welcome the public hearing, uh, with the Afet and DS committees on, uh, the influence of China in Europe and the world. So now let's let those colleagues come in.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Right. We now move on to the presentation of the Propaganda Monitor Initiative by Reporters Without Frontiers, published in September 2025. The report focuses, and I need to focus to. The report focuses on the Kremlin's propaganda apparatus, documenting its operation as an industrial scale system designed to undermine democratic processes. What makes this investigation particularly valuable is its operational detail. It identifies the specific mechanisms, actors and circumvention tactics that make Russian disinformation resilient despite European sanctions. Among several glaring examples is the fact that despite EU sanctions banning RT and Sputnik since March 2022, they remain accessible in all EU member states. The report also notes that simply by typing into Google in France brings up a mirror site among the top results, allowing live streaming without a VPN. In August 2025, RT even managed to purchase large roadside billboards on along major Italian roads, promoting the Russian perspective on Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children. The report details Russia's systematic penetration in the Sahel region, notably by recruiting hundreds of local journalists through sponsored training programs. And press visits to Moscow. Of particular concern is that Russia is thereby filling the information vacuum created by the US decision to dismantle the US agency for Global Media in March 2025, leaving Russia as the often dominant external voice in regions critical to European security. The report also outlines increasingly sophisticated techniques AI generated content that mimics legitimate journalism. Fake fact checking agencies that weaponize the language of media literacy, and the embedding of pro-Russian narratives by local influencers to appear organic rather than directed from abroad. We welcome Mr. Antoine Bernard, director of advocacy, strategic litigation and assistance at Reporters Without Borders. Mr. Bernard is Burnout is a recognized expert and practitioner in international law and human rights. Former Director general of the International Federation for Human Rights, he has contributed to the creation of the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. He's also a professor at Sciences Po Paris. Mr. Bernard, you have the floor for seven minutes.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Before giving the floor to the next speaker, and because we've heard time and again since yesterday that financing coming from the European Commission would be a suspect, may I remind all our colleagues that there are all different political colours represented in the European Commission, including Mr. Demirtas, a Hungarian commissioner belonging to the same political party as you do. So I am surprised that the European Commission becomes to be portrayed by some of you as an enemy, while it's representing all of the nationalities and political tendencies in the European Union. Next on my list is Helmuth Brandstetter from Europe.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you very much for your participation and for your strong work. And I think this parliament deserves to support people like you, who are helping us to know the truth about what's happening in Africa and how not only Africans are targeted, but also the EU and its member states are distorted and and targeted as well, by Russian actors, in Africa. I would now like to give the floor to Mrs. Silke Thompson, who is Head of Sub Saharan Africa's TRETCOM Task Force in the European external action service. You have the floor, missus Hansen.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “I was just wondering whether you might be able to shed any light on Turkey's use of intimidation of other diasporas. In France, and I believe in other member states, we've seen structures which have been banned not because of their nature in themselves, but French nationals of Armenian origin have seen themselves in this situation. So what are you aware of in terms of Turkey, Azerbaijan John being in contact. There was an Azerbaijani exile, for instance, who was subject to assassination attempts in French cinema. Lamont, who was threatened in France and the people involved, or at least the people giving the orders, were Turkish. So. Do you have any further information on this going beyond what you've already told us? And is this is there a denial of EU sovereignty of this nature to so things that are happening on our territory in relation to people who are on our soil or are refugees on our territory? That's an infringement of sovereignty too, isn't it? We'll now hear your responses and we'll start with Mr. Yorulmaz.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much. Thank you to Mr. Gill for attending today. I think in terms of, uh, what you say and whether people didn't fully trust in that previously, this does show the need for multilateral forums to ensure that the huge challenges brought by AI and digital technologies can be debated with all countries across, across the globe, regardless of what we believe or what our orientations are, because the digital agenda is borderless and if we want to bring a response to this, then we do need a degree of international cooperation and understanding. So I'd like to take the opportunity to remind all of you that we need the UN, and to criticize them and turn your backs on them is pointless, given the huge challenges. I would like to thank the commission for attending today, and you spoke a lot about technology in this committee. We talk about democracy a lot. I would like to make sure that all institutional players think about both, because we shouldn't use our brains as silos or work shouldn't be in silos and in the EU and at the UN, we need to be able to mainstream democracy. Thank you very much. Moving on to the next item on our agenda, And I would like to say goodbye to Mr. Gill. Moving on to the next item on the agenda and looking at the amendments on the draft report from our colleague, Mr. Thomas Toby, 1655 amendments were launched on the draft report, which was brought to the committee of this committee by the rapporteur on the 29th of January. First, we'll hear from Thomas, Toby and then the shadow rapporteurs three minutes each. I will then open catch the eye for the second round of questions and I will be joining in not as chair but as renew member. So starting off with Mr. Torbay for three minutes.”
  EU foreign policy approach
• “We are looking at the implementation of a working group, and it is chaired by Sabina Farhan, and is one of the very important initiatives that we have taken. All the committee, all the groups are represented there. Libe is also represented. So this hearing is something which is very important and very topical for us. We need to look at the challenges for society, the technical technological changes, the implications for users and the implications for the whole European landscape. Young people in particular are turning away from traditional media and are using other sources to obtain information. More and more people get their news online, and this is very significant because when you see what a close connection there is between the media landscape and democracy throughout all our countries, you see what the implications are and how the they are only ever growing. Our first panel deals with the situation in the media, in the EU, and we are very fortunate enough to have some top experts who can tell us about the state of the art situation in our sector. Herb Brussel and from the European Broadcasting Union.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “An example of this is the sale of botnets or remote access trojans. In addition, the dark web is seen and used as an ideal platform for illicit money flows, as well as a trading ground for cryptocurrency based money laundering and illegal transactions. This multifaceted cyber threat requires harmonisation of law enforcement services at both European and international level. The European Union, through Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, plays a crucial role in coordinating the efforts of law enforcement agencies in member states and representing the EU at international level. Addressing the risks posed by the dark web requires global and and European cooperation. At least we hope it might be global and also sustained intelligence sharing, as no single authority or region can effectively mitigate these threats in isolation. I have already talked at length here, so I'd like to give the floor to our experts. We have, um, Mr. Carl Miller, who's joining us remotely from London. He's a technologist, journalist and a writer. He's the founder of the center for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos and the Information Integrity Lab, Kasm technology and chief strategy officer at the Disarm Foundation. He's a member of our task Force on Threats to States, Chatham House's high level Task Force on Ice and Society. Mr. Miller is also the host of the Dark Net investigative podcast Kill List, which I recommend to you. He explores the kill List, uh, which is a murder for hire website where people paid or paid tens of thousands of dollars to target individuals for assassination. And this is just another example of a service available on the dark net. Unfortunately, I give you the floor, Mr. Carl Miller.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “Thank you very much for this very powerful intervention, which opens the eyes on practices that have reached as far as the European Parliament. And I think we should not underestimate what you shared with us, including the fact that a number of colleagues have been participated in a an operation of influence and infiltration from Mr. Medvedchuk and Mr. Marchevsky. So now I will give the floor to my colleagues, starting by Tomas Zukowski from EPP.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Thank you. I'll take off my chair's hat, and I'll now speak as a member. Um, as part of the catch the eye procedure. Thank you to the rapporteur for a very dense report. A lot of colleagues have already said a number of things. I'm also guilty because I tabled a number of amendments. As other colleagues have said, I think we have to, uh, name all of those responsible for interference. There's no such thing as good interference that you like and bad interference. There's no good and bad threats.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much. Now the floor goes to Henry Price director general of Alliance for Europe, to share the conclusion of the recently published report on persistent infrastructure and cross border influence operations targeting European elections on X and especially, of course, on Hungary. The floor is yours for seven minutes.”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “Thank you. I will have an additional question. Um, Canada is a country of migration with a lot of, uh, different foreign diaspora present in the country. How do you deal with the use of this diaspora as targets of SMEs or as vectors of SMEs as well? Is there a specific practice that Canada is trying to have and that you could share with us? Uh, so, um, now I give the floor back to Sebastian.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much to both of our guests. I'm now going to give the floor to my colleagues who'd like to ask questions. And I myself. I'm going to ask the first question. For Mr. Bailey. And there are two questions, really. The first is this. Has the European Union built on its experience with Moldova, um, in the way that it's helping Armenia. You and Newsguard have described a situation where Russia has intervened and interfered on a massive scale. And my second question might be for Mrs. Maitland, too, above and beyond the use of social networks. And what Russia is doing and other actors are doing are everywhere. Is there anything specific to Armenia? I'm thinking particularly about the Armenian church. There has been tension. There have been arrests, um, accusations on both sides now. We saw what happened in Ukraine with the Orthodox Church. So I'd like to ask about the Armenian church and whether Russia is using that for interference too. I'm now going to give the floor to my colleagues. We'll start with the EPP. Mr..”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “We met cyber security units and counter spying units of the FBI. And they had very interesting things to say about cyber attacks in the US, targeting in particular critical infrastructure. They listed the various external threats that they face. And when we're looking at an operational level in the US, we actually have the same list of those involved as we would have in Europe, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. So this is not a European invention. It turns out that the professionals, when it comes to tackling foreign interference and spying, list the same adversaries. And all of them said that they were especially keen to ensure that the transatlantic relationship and our partnership on this issue could continue. And I would say, despite everything, we then went to the Justice Department, and there we looked at the importance of Euro-American cooperation in criminal matters. And again, that was stressed. We met the deputy assistant attorney general, Josh Goldfoot. And the aim there was to discuss the impact of organized crime when it comes to the conduct of hybrid attacks, in particular when it comes to cyber criminals, information pirates. And we wanted to talk about the ways that Russia and China use these criminal activities in order to benefit from them. Finally, we went to the United Nations and we had a series of meetings there in the sensitive context that we are aware of with the UN going through a crisis of confidence.”
  EU law enforcement cooperation in criminal matters
• “Thank you, Commissioner colleagues. Um, many of you won't want to have the floor, and that's perfectly fine. And I will do my best to make sure that everybody has an occasion to make remarks or ask questions. It will only be possible if you stick to your speaking time. So we will start with the first round of questions with the rapporteur and coordinators or their group representatives, two minutes per speaker. And as I would say, David McAllister, the chair of two minutes means 122 seconds. No more. So let's start with EPP rapporteur Thomas Tobi.”
  EU public communication strategy
• “(09:18:22 – 09:19:44): Yes, thank you very much for your presentation and for your work. Two sets of questions: one on your priorities on innovation. You mentioned a number of examples. I'd like to know what's the role of EDA in support of new generation technologies and especially AI. Do you have specific projects focusing on the role of AI on military equipment? My second question would be what's your role in facilitating military mobility if any? And then on the methods, can you tell us how you managed to work with the European Commission? What are the distinctions, the differences and the cooperations that are ongoing? And on the procedures, you started by saying that we live in a new world where history has accelerated and the threats are increasing. Is there an effort to change the procedures of EDA to make your agency work or allow it to work in a crisis mode? Thank you.”
  Artificial Intelligence for military purposes
• “Thank you. Before giving the floor to ECR, just a semantic remark. Elites and elected have the same origin. So if we are all elected, we are all elites. They are not them and us and we are all targeted for from with foreign interferences. Ecr.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you for the SMEs. It's quite unusual, but it's gender balanced. There will be one minute for Anna Catharina mendes and a historic day They were Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar commits himself to speak only for one minute. Please keep the record of this moment. So first, Anna Catharina méndez. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will speak in Portuguese.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Turkey engages with its diaspora across Europe through a network of consular structures, diaspora organisations and religious institutions, including state linked mosques, mosques, associations and imams. The duality of these organisations is quite unusual. They are both providers of community support and natural channels of state influence. This leads to a growing concern about pressure on presumed opponents on the diaspora, as well as, as I said, the opponents of the Turkish government. And this raises questions about surveillance, intimidation and transnational repression within the EU. We are delighted to welcome two experts today. The first is Mr. Coskun Yorulmaz, a representative of solidarity with others, founded in 2018 by a group of lawyers, human rights defenders and victims of government oppression in Turkey to shed light on human rights violations in the country, and to be a voice for those who are not heard in the EU and in neighbouring countries. The second expert is Doctor Damla Barakat. Axel Mercator, IPC fellow and professor at Baker University. Specializing in international migration, migration, governance and diaspora engagement. I'd like to thank you both for being here today with us. Mr. Yorulmaz, you have the floor now for approximately 16 minutes.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you. Chair. I'll be speaking in French. This summit Was a useless humiliation and deceit. I won't thank Mark Rutter for what he said and did. We need to talk about the. We don't need to talk about, uh, the prime the US president as being the daddy here. Now here we have commitments for 5% uh, for defense. Spain was mentioned. But how is Belgium going to move from 1.4% of GDP to 5%, as it's never respected its commitments of 2% before? And I don't think Donald Trump even believes what he accepted in the final declaration on Russia or Ukraine. I don't think that he'll believe it in a few weeks time. Even if he believed this in The Hague, it was a summit that was damage limitation, but we now need to get down to serious business. Donald Trump said that American weapons will be bought for Ukraine. But how is this going to happen? Will we Europeans? Are we just basically a cheque book for American companies? Nothing was said about American presence in Europe. Do we know anything about that? We're talking about 20% of U.S. troops being withdrawn and levels going back to 2014. But the threat level is not the same as it was in 2014. Now this European pillar of NATO is going to become more and more urgent and necessary. In the first bricks have been laid.”
  EU-US relations
• “Praise While colleagues will try to start. Unfortunately, our guest speaker from Ottawa cannot be connected. We have tried again and again, but it's not working. So and unfortunately, we have one member of our committee present. We are waiting for another one. And I will give the floor to Mr. Sebastien Aubertin G. From Public Safety Canada. For five minutes of introduction and I hope other MEPs will come. We had decided to have this item on information manipulation and interferences and the way Canada is handling them and recent decisions taken by Canada. At a moment where in the Foreign Affairs Committee we have voted a report to advocate for stronger relations between Canada and the European Union. So Mr. Aubertin, the floor is yours.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “I would suggest we move on to item six on the agenda. So the committee mission to Moldova, 26th to the 28th of May. Delegation went to Casino in Moldova with a view to meeting both the institutions there, as well as representatives of civil society, to hear about their experience and how they're fighting against, uh, manipulation of information and foreign interference from Russia, as well as other hybrid threats such as vote buying and energy blackmail. In the context of the elections last year, as well as the beginning of this year. The delegation. Included Michael Jordan Thomas and Sigrid Ferguson. Morrison in his capacity as the chair of the delegation. Of the Parliamentary Association Committee, we met um representatives of the ministries, chairs of parliamentary committees, civil servants organisations, civil society representatives, the media, etc.. Moldova has a very important strategic role. They're facing hybrid attacks from Russian actors. The accession Procedure started in June last year officially, and they find themselves at a crossroads and they've shown great resilience against the huge pressure they're facing. Very sophisticated interference. And they achieved holding a constitutional referendum on the EU integration. We heard about what's going on in Moldova, Moldova in the context of legislative elections. We talked about the EU PM mission and the electoral observation mission in the context of a Russian disinformation campaign with a lot of funding. The budget was estimated Between 150 to €200 million, which is huge given the size of the country.”
  EU-Moldova relations
• “Thank you. Um, there are many things to be said about foreign interference in Poland, including from MAGA. I think we all noticed the presence, the massive presence of MAGA interlocutors in Poland supporting one specific candidate, um, for Renew Europe, Helmut Brandstaetter.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much and thank you to all those who gave us such excellent presentations this afternoon. The way that media are used, of course, takes place in a financial context. I think that media platforms are not social media because they're a business model of a completely different sort. It costs money. And of course you do need algorithms, but it certainly costs money, which the publisher needs to come up with. I'm wondering about the possibility of new demand offers, new tools in the public arena, and what restrictions might apply. I wonder how relevant they might be deemed to be. How would they relate to the DSA, the DMA, and I wonder, furthermore, whether you think that the legislation needs to be tightened up, and whether the content of the legislation as it currently stands is actually sufficient, and where you think the boundaries actually lie and what the implications are. Thank you.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “Thank you very much to all our guest speakers for this very interesting retakes. I think there were many things that you learned, uh, and that you can teach us, uh, when you faced this level of foreign interferences in Moldova, uh, good luck for, uh, the rest of your work. We will stop for a few minutes before we, uh, go in camera for the next item on our agenda. Uh, we are back in five minutes.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you. Before giving the floor to ECR, just a semantic remark. Elites and elected have the same origin. So if we are all elected, we are all elites. They are not them and us and we are all targeted for from with foreign interferences. Ecr.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “We'll adopt the agenda unless there are any amendments. I consider it adopted. We have an interpretation today in 12 languages German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian. We have the minutes from January. If there are no comments, we will consider that to be adopted. We're starting our work today with an exchange of view views on Russian interference in Armenia in the run up to the parliamentary elections, which will be taking place in June. I'd like to remind you that nearly two years ago, the European Parliament adopted a resolution welcoming Armenia's desire to strengthen its links with the European Union, encouraging a stronger and more ambitious partnership. I would also like to stress that Armenia is the only democratic country in its neighbourhood around Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran and Georgia, where we are seeing democracy recede spectacularly. Armenia is now preparing for elections, which will take place in June in 2020. There was an Azerbaijani attack on Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia at that point was meant to protect the area, monitor events there, but Russia turned its back, failed to help Armenia and allowed the offensive to go ahead. That was in 2020 and resulted in ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh area. Since then, relations between Russia and Armenia have been tense. The prime minister has distanced himself from Moscow and sought closer relations with the European Union and the West in general. There has been a hybrid war through which Russia has attempted to impose its views on the country.”
  EU-Armenia relations
• “Well, thank you very much to both our guest speakers for their in-depth explanations about the use of the Russian Orthodox Church or Orthodox churches in general by Russia to support its interferences in former Soviet republics or Eastern Europe countries. We're going to take two minutes before we move on to the next item of the agenda because the next item is in camera and we're just going to give those people who shouldn't be here for that item time to leave the room. Thank you.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you. We're going to be handing over to. Our speakers for answers. During the hearings. Our experts are selected by political groups. So we select them carefully. And. The political groups select them. And the sources of the financing are published on the website. So I'd like to start with Miss Redlowska to respond to the comments and questions.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much to the four members of the first panel. What a wealth of material you've given us. Not always reassuring, but you did have a lot of recommendations, too, which is something we certainly need in this special committee. I'd just like to make a couple of comments by way of a wrap up. If we look at freedom, particularly freedom of speech, that is obviously valuable to humanity. Giving freedom of speech to machines is a rather different matter, and using freedom of speech as a smokescreen to tinker with our regulation is a another issue to regulating the use of language. How far can we go? Are there activities which are undergoing constant change where it might not be a danger of regulating free? Yesterday, waging the war on yesterday's enemy rather than today's and tomorrow's. This is something that I think we have to constantly reassess. It's very much on trend to be anti regulation. I do think we need to. Think about the bigger picture. Not all regulation is red tape. What about uh I know the Highway Code has a bit of a consensus on that. We tend to respect it all around Europe. I think as legislators, we do have a responsibility to to stand up for tried and tested rules. Two minute break and then panel two. Thanks. Dear colleagues. Let us now move on to panel two. How can democratic societies engage in governance, regulation and democratic safeguards for AI? We touched upon this in panel one, but will be focusing more on it in panel two. We're bringing together a whole range of different issues civic technology, philosophy, linguistics and law, bringing together theoretical frameworks and practical implementation experience.”
  Artificial Intelligence
• “I'm sorry. I don't think you're a member of either of the committees, so I can't give you the floor, I'm afraid. It's for members of the two committees. Sorry.”
  EU political integration
• “Thank you. We have a member who came a little late because we have many committees, uh, working at the same time. Uh, today in the parliament. But Mrs. Pedro joined us, and I think she wants to ask a question or make a remark. Mrs. Pedro?”
  EU engagement with citizens
• “Thank you very much to both of our guests. I'm now going to give the floor to my colleagues who'd like to ask questions. And I myself. I'm going to ask the first question. For Mr. Bailey. And there are two questions, really. The first is this. Has the European Union built on its experience with Moldova, um, in the way that it's helping Armenia. You and Newsguard have described a situation where Russia has intervened and interfered on a massive scale. And my second question might be for Mrs. Maitland, too, above and beyond the use of social networks. And what Russia is doing and other actors are doing are everywhere. Is there anything specific to Armenia? I'm thinking particularly about the Armenian church. There has been tension. There have been arrests, um, accusations on both sides now. We saw what happened in Ukraine with the Orthodox Church. So I'd like to ask about the Armenian church and whether Russia is using that for interference too. I'm now going to give the floor to my colleagues. We'll start with the EPP. Mr..”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much. I let Mr. Fedorovich, who just arrived, take a few minutes to, uh, take his breath back and settle, and then I will be happy to give you the floor. Before I give you the floor. Just a few words. Um, we did receive your presentation. Uh, and I understand from what we saw that you want to talk in particular about telegram. Um, we already had a meeting dedicated to, uh, this platform, uh, in one of our previous meetings. But I can understand that the role of telegram, um, is more and more, um, debated and sometimes troubling, especially considering, uh, recent news. So, um, we will, uh, listen to you. Uh, but I will ask you to focus your interventions, especially on the aspect of algorithm manipulation and interferences in democratic processes. Mr. Fedorovich, you have the floor for seven minutes. Okay.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thank you, rapporteur, for your remarks. Just a few words on the timetable of the rest of our work. And just to mention that the presentation of your draft final report will take place in Strasbourg on Monday, September 8th. Um. ***10. Exchange of views with Reporters without borders on World Press Freedom in 2025”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “I'm also pleased to welcome Professor Emma Bryant, an expert, a foremost expert in the information war and propaganda. She was consulted for the documentary The Great Hack, which examined the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Professor Bryant brings a critical perspective to the ways in which political advertising can be weaponized for, uh, foreign interference. We will also be welcoming Mr. Alberto Fernandez Gibaja, who leads the digitalization and democracy at International Idea, where he leads projects which look at the impact of technology on democratic processes from a regulatory as well as practical perspective. He is an expert in electoral integrity and democratic innovation thereby. Therefore, he will be offering us a an overall perspective on the efforts carried out by the EU to regulate political advertising. And I would also like to give the floor to miss Marie-Hélene Boulanger from the European Commission, who is head of the Jwst unit. And she'll be giving us an update on the implementation of this legislation. And by speaking after our external guests, she'll be able to answer some of the questions you might raise. So we'll start with Miss Garcia for seven minutes.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Madam. It's me. I was elected for this committee and the rules of procedure. You, moreover, have a concern for disinformation that characterizes you on social networks, which was not elected. I was elected as a candidate for your group. I can understand the defeat, but I do not see the disinformation and the attempt to discredit this committee and the work that, with great interest in all the trips of the MEPs, those who have traveled will take care to indicate on their page. The European Parliament website that the trips were funded by, therefore, the poor person's word and therefore to renew to Helmut Brandstaetter.”
  Transparency requirements of EU institutions
• “No, but you know you're supposed to support freedom of speech. If I understand correctly what you regularly say. So please let our guest speaker go ahead.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “We use the opportunity to reaffirm the EP support for democracy in Taiwan and for a bilateral investment agreement. Our discussions with the ministers and high officials stressed the strategic importance of semiconductors and emerging technologies for both because it's crucial for security in Taiwan, but also because it's a major lever in its international partnerships. The representatives of civil society shared their experience in building media confidence, and also building the capacity of citizens to resist cognitive warfare and foreign interference. Everyone we spoke to welcomed the EU's commitment, particularly resolutions, and the exchanges in the European Parliament expressed their desire to cooperate more deeply with us in building democratic resilience, ensuring security of the supply chain and the freedom of the media. We identified certain important points to retain for the work in our committee, these being the all of society approach to resilience and digital resilience as a democratic infrastructure. Preparation. Preparation for hybrid attacks and strategic partnerships. The Taiwan's resilience model is inspiring. It's relevant for the EU as well because we often face similar threats. It seems very important to us that we should strengthen the cooperation between the EU and Taiwan in terms of hybrid threats, cyber security, social resilience and civil protection, as well as encouraging significant international, uh, Taiwan's significant international commitment. Those are the words I wanted to share with you. Once again, I wanted to thank our partners in Taiwan for their welcome, the quality of our discussions, and also my colleagues for the excellent cooperation. So that concludes this morning's meeting, and we will be back this afternoon at 16:45.”
  Relations with Taiwan
• “Thank you very much, Mr. Mlejnek. I think that you have encouraged all of the participants with your discussion, because I think you've told us more in this, uh, meeting, which is going to be shared with the public. This is something the public are going to be able to watch and and hear. Then we heard from the eeaS in an in-camera meeting. So I'd like to thank you for that, because the work for this special committee is not just about reiterating among people who already know what the situation is, that we it's important for us to make sure that the public is aware. We need to make sure that people are aware of these influences and Russian propaganda, and that we also have a we have people that are complicit with this interference. And indeed, we have seen this with our colleagues, ex colleagues as well. So it's very important to have this. So I have a question for you. Are we sometimes interviewed without our knowledge by a pro-Russian media outlet, which is Anti Ukrainian. So I have another question as well for you, which I raised yesterday with other guests in France. Today we have the former boss of RT France. Who has also worked as spreading propaganda for the Kremlin, on TV channels and on the radio and in the French media. So do you think that we are right in the EU? To keep these Russian propaganda agents? And I would like to thank you very much. You have the floor.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Well, thank you very much to all of you. I think it was really an inspiring. Uh, we noticed that you also took inspiration from Australia, the UK and the US. Uh, and it's a pity that some members of this committee are not present here and now, because they would see that your inspiration comes from terrible autocracies. Um, they always fear that what we're trying to do would amount to censorship or, uh, decreasing the level of democracy in the European Union. We see that Canada and other very strong democracies are fighting hard against foreign interferences, and for very good reasons. Thank you again. Uh, any other business from colleagues present in the room? If it's not the case, the next meeting will be in on March the 17th in Brussels. And later today we have our coordinators meeting at a 4:45. Thank you very much.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “This year's edition makes a concerning remark for the first time. The global situation is described generally as difficult, and economic fragility has been identified as a major threat to press freedom. These developments have real consequences for our democracies. Free press is a cornerstone of the democratic process, an essential tool to strengthen transparency and responsibility. When press freedom is weakened, its democracy itself that is put in danger. And this brings us to an essential question what are the factors behind the erosion of press freedom in democratic societies? And how can politicians respond to this without compromising the independence of the media? To talk about this, and I'll give the floor to Miss Marczak to present the main conclusions of the World Press Freedom Index X 2025. You have the floor for ten minutes.”
  EU support for traditional (non-digital) media
• “So, Commissioner, before giving you the floor I have a small, very small additional question because we heard about billions and billions of euros for the centre. I was not exactly aware of it. We heard of a mega centre. I was not aware of it. So can you clarify? Because the question was already asked how many people was the size of the staff of the center that was just inaugurated. Thank you.”
  Discharge of EU institutions and agencies
• “So I will switch to my own mother tongue. This is the debriefing of the UDS Committee mission to Taiwan from the 21st of 23rd of July, 2025. Uh Committee sent a delegation to Taipei in Taiwan from the 21st of 23rd July, 2025 with the aim of talking with representatives of the government, the parliament, civil society and other experts from Taiwan, and to talk about their experience, their strategies to combat, uh, information manipulation, foreign interference, hybrid attacks, cyber attacks, and military uh, coercion in the grey zone, particularly from the Popular Republic, People's Republic of China. I led this delegation, which comprised um representative of the BPP from S and D, Zagorsky Varshavsky and Mrs.. Uh Gregorova from the Greens, and uh, Mr. Eroglu from the EU China delegation. In the course of the visit we met a very broad range of people. We were received by the President of Taiwan, some ministers, members of parliament, high representative government as well as representatives of civil society, think tanks and the media. We also met the heads of mission of the EU member States and representatives of the United States. Taiwan is on the front line and faces daily cyber attacks, many of them disinformation campaigns, intimidation and attempts to corrupt its elite. Taiwan has introduced an advanced model of all of society, resilience and all of society approach, which comprises the government, civil society and the private sector. To combat these threats, and in our meetings with the itinerant ambassador Audrey Tang, the National Agency for Fires and Civil Preparedness and the National Defence Ministry showed us the innovative approach in Taiwan in terms of digital governance, asymmetric defence, civil participation and emergency preparedness. President XI Jinping restated Taiwan's determination to defend its democracy in the face of these foreign threats, and he also said he was very interested in closer cooperation between the EU and Taiwan in areas such as cybersecurity, protection of critical infrastructure, information sharing and media resilience.”
  Relations with Taiwan
• “Good afternoon everyone. Let's get started, colleagues. Unfortunately, as you will perhaps have seen the speaker for item three. Exchange of views on the financing by Gulf states of political and religious networks within the EU was not able to be here today. So that's why we're starting a bit later than planned. We'll have that exchange of views in January. So let us now consider the agenda as amended. Adopted. Thank you. Today interpretation is available in 16 languages Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish. As always, the electronic file for the meeting is available online. I'd also like to let you know that the UDS mission to Helsinki and Stockholm report is available on the committee website, so we can move to what is now item three. An exchange of views on Turkey's engagement, including transnational repression of diaspora communities and religious institutions in the EU. It's not surprising that for years, Ankara has deployed a multifaceted strategy to maintain its influence over its diaspora of millions of people across Europe. Today, Turkey considers its citizens and their descendants abroad not only as a social and economic resource, but also an extension. And this is quite particular of its foreign policy. And even of its law enforcement tools, with implications for cohesion and security within EU member states.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “All right. But if it's just to remind us about what we voted I'm very happy to have the commission coming to our meetings, but not necessarily if you don't have any specific thing to say. You were clearly requested to come to talk about Hungary. If you consider it's not possible for you to do that, I can fully understand. But then I'll just say it before. That would be better for the time. Your time and our time as well.”
  Rule of law in Hungary
• “Thank you, president, for almost three years ago. The military coup d'etat d'état took place in Niger, since which time president has been held in detention. And over these three years, we've seen catastrophic outcomes. The country is no longer a democracy. The people are suffering and the jihadist military junta is making. The jihadist military is making progress. One significant absent party is France, which is not present, but which is being constantly accused for the of being responsible for the country's troubles. Apparently it's kidnapping children and arming the jihadists, nothing less. The junta is calling on the people of Niger to prepare for a war against France. These are pathetic lies. The Niamey military who carried out the coup are responsible For their situation. They rejected France. They've called in Russia. They are responsible for their failures, which are numerous. Thank you.”
  EU policy on Sahel and Sudan
• “(09:18:22 – 09:19:44): Yes, thank you very much for your presentation and for your work. Two sets of questions: one on your priorities on innovation. You mentioned a number of examples. I'd like to know what's the role of EDA in support of new generation technologies and especially AI. Do you have specific projects focusing on the role of AI on military equipment? My second question would be what's your role in facilitating military mobility if any? And then on the methods, can you tell us how you managed to work with the European Commission? What are the distinctions, the differences and the cooperations that are ongoing? And on the procedures, you started by saying that we live in a new world where history has accelerated and the threats are increasing. Is there an effort to change the procedures of EDA to make your agency work or allow it to work in a crisis mode? Thank you.”
  Artificial Intelligence for military purposes
• “General Jean Pierre, my question is on UNIFIL. You said that this summer there was a one year extension of its mandate. Can you tell us a bit more about the conditions which under in your opinion would allow to conclude its operations in good condition? Can we reasonably consider that attacks that this can happen? I mean, we know that attacks are increasing on UNIFIL. I mean, ten days ago for the first time an Israeli drone was shot down by UNIFIL and the situation in Lebanon is fragile. What's the future for Lebanon without UNIFIL, without the ten thousand blue helmets? Fifteen member states are participating in UNIFIL as well as several candidate countries and I would like to commemorate the two hundred and six soldiers killed as well as the others involved in the building that was subject to an attack by Hezbollah.”
  EU-Lebanon relations
• “Well, colleagues will try to start. Unfortunately, our guest speaker from Ottawa cannot be connected. We have tried again and again, but it's not working. Uh, so, um, and unfortunately, we have one member of our committee present. So we are waiting for, uh, another one. And, uh, I will, uh, give the floor to, uh, Mr. Sebastian Aubertin Gigot, uh, from Public Safety Canada. Uh, for five minutes of introduction, and I hope other MEPs will come. We had decided to have this item on, uh, information manipulation and interferences and the way Canada is handling them and recent decisions taken by Canada. Um, at a moment where, uh, in the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have voted, uh, a report to, uh, advocate for stronger relations between Canada and the European Union. So, Mr. Aubertin, the floor is yours.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Moldova has a huge strategic interest for Russia, most notably due to the geographical position given Ukraine. Russia doesn't seem to understand what national sovereignty means for a former member of the Soviet republic. This is why there's increasing hybrid attacks, including energy blackmail. Since the beginning of the year, Russia cut off gas supply for Transnistria under a pretext. And this is all very concerning, given what happened. In autumn when the pressure was increased. Representatives of civil society highlighted that hybrid warfare, the hybrid warfare that was currently going on, is essentially a total war for the future of Moldova. The withdrawal of the US was also addressed. The energy sector, for example, a key power line that connects the Moldavian grid to the European one, has seen considerable delays due to the withdrawal of U.S. investment. The situation is crucial. Civil society organizations are feeling the lack of US aid support even those who hadn't been funded by the US government due to the change of priorities for other donors. Civil society organizations. The government. And various representatives mentioned the package that was introduced to fight electoral fraud. Corruption is omnipresent. Some 150,000 citizens were targeted to download applications on their phone from Russian banks that are under sanctions. They received considerable sums. In order to sell their votes or participate in anti-government demonstrations. They're talking about a huge share of the population here. We hope that the ongoing reforms will be successful in combating this.”
  EU-Moldova relations
• “Let me answer to you, Mr. Terje, before you leave, because you're obviously not interested in answers, but more on your remarks. When you say people have stopped the elections in Romania, this is the Romanian Supreme Court which cancelled the election. No one in Brussels did it. No one in Brussels supported or did not support this or that. I'm speaking. I let you speak. I'm answering. No one in Brussels supported this or that candidate. Apart from politicians who had their preferences. But the system is a party neutral, so much that Mr. Orban was able to stay in power for 16 years. To be in the European Council and to be the Trojan horse of Vladimir Putin. And this is regrettable. Next speaker is if you want to take the floor. Kim, for Spartak.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Newsguard has shown us how the Kremlin has attempted to undermine the elections. Starting the process extremely early. If we compare the situation to that of other countries, there have been attacks against government representatives and the democratic institutions of Armenia between the European Union and its member states. Very similar to what we saw in Moldova. The Moldovan authorities have chosen to cooperate with the Armenian authorities to help them to protect themselves against this interference in their democratic processes. Given the length and the density of the Newsguard report, I felt it was important to invite Eva Maitland along. She is the author of the report. Russia Targets Armenia early and Viciously. She is editor in chief in chief at Newsguard and has worked in the past on digital disinformation threats. The European Action Service is also with us. Mr. Bailey has worked for many years in strategic communication and institutional affairs at the European Union. Today, he is the managing director for Global issues and Communication. Um, something in which the Stratcom Task Force is involved. I'm going to give the floor. First of all to Mrs. Maitland for five minutes. Go ahead please.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much, Commissioner, for being with us today. It's three months now since the presentation of the joint communication by the Commission and the High Representative on the 12th of November that took place. And we hope soon that the European Democracy Shield will take place, particularly the European Centre for Democratic Resilience. On the 29th of January. There was a first technical meeting for the centre in Brussels and obviously we're keen to hear from you. Yesterday there was a meeting at the General Affairs Council to mark the political launch of the centre, and we felt that this was the right moment to see you here again. And we're always delighted to see you here in this committee. I'd like to give you the floor to tell us about the deployment of the European Democracy Shield. I give you about ten minutes.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “We see that we need to increase our expenditure in defense and increase autonomy, yet we seem to be looking for any possible excuse not to meet our objectives. In the Middle East, we're seeing people using resources. And here in Europe, we're defending preference for Europe. We see purchasing is not coordinated. It's all too complicated, the procedures. And yet people think all is well and that we should stick to the status quo and stand in the way of a defense market. China invests massively in defense equipment and in new generation fighter jets at the same time. When we're seeing rivalries between France and Germany endangering decision making. It's enough to despair. Fortunately, we're seeing some initiatives now on nuclear deterrence that will help to improve and meet the expectations of other European nations. And it seems to be welcomed by almost everyone, except for those who want a weak and unarmed Europe. Let's not listen to them.”
  Defence spending
• “Thank you very much to your speakers. And it's right on time that the representative of the commission joined the conversation. And I would like to welcome Antoine Colombani, Deputy Head of unit at Inist, on enlargement strategy and coordination. I would like to give you the floor for three minutes.”
  EU enlargement
• “Well, thank you very much to all of you. I think it was really an inspiring. We noticed that you also took inspiration from Australia, the UK and the US. And it's a pity that some members of this committee are not present here and now because they would see that your inspiration comes from. Terrible autocracies. They always fear that what we're trying to do would amount to censorship or decreasing the level of democracy in the European Union. We see that Canada and other very strong democracies are fighting hard against foreign interferences, and for very good reasons. Thank you again. Any other business from colleagues present in the room? If it's not the case, the next meeting will be in on March the 17th in Brussels. And later today we have our coordinators meeting at a 4:45. Thank you very much.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you very much for this very useful remarks and comments, useful for our work at the moment where we are creating a centre for Democratic Resilience in the European Union. I think we have a lot to learn from your expertise, your experience. And I take it as, uh, an important advice. Fact checkers are useful, but they are not the magical recipe. Uh, proactive strategic communication is obviously lacking, uh, at the EU institutions level and at the member states level as well, and we keep on reacting running after this information and FEMA operations. Uh, instead of, uh, filling the space with what we have to say, what we want to promote. And that would be much more effective. Thank you very much. Um, and I hope we will continue the exchanges with your center. Um, um. So we pause for just a few minutes, and then we have, uh, the next item. ***Exchange of views on Canada’s recent actions to fight FIMI and protect democracy with representatives of Global Affairs and Public Safety Canada”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Mr. Commissioner, we have elected members in our House of democracy. Yes. Elected people who don't want to protect democracy. They are a minority, but we still hear their voice. However, there is a majority and I'm part of it. Who wants to put an end to attacks on our democracy? And I would urge you to listen to the voices of the majority who want you to do more. You promised that you will ensure that our European laws are respected by tech giants. That's the very least we can expect from the Commission. And yet we're still waiting for this to happen. You want to support media? Well, don't wait any longer. We have to demand that informative journalism is more visible online. We have to focus on truth rather than just going viral. Social networks are constantly blamed that they for not respecting our European values. And that's still the case because they're not European. Uh, ex, uh, tick tock and so forth are not European. We want to protect our citizens, not, uh, media profits. We want to protect our society and our democracy.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you for that pleading. Well, I'm not sure that it was a pleading, but it's very assured and very strong. You talked about what Russia is doing vis a vis Reporters Without Borders. I can just tell you what the vice president of the US says about Reporters Without Borders. One of our helmet branches, we were the had the pleasure to. Hear from the vice president of the US said that, uh. Uh, the the speaker had no worth because he came from Reporters Without Borders. It's a bit sad. I think we'll take all the speakers. The first will be for two minutes, and then the next ones will have one minute. Each side will start with Miss Zdenko. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll speak Romanian. Thank you. Thank you to this valuable institution, reporters Without Borders. I'm a professor at the university for. In Romania I teach at the faculty for journalists. I often use your reports for my students and my public. These are important documents. I have some suggestions. I think that Reporters Without Borders is is a credible institution within Europe at least, and I think he could do more for digital. Education. He shouldn't just be looking at looking at propaganda. All organizations also for help people to fact check or other areas. This have this propaganda which is an important vector today. Short answers which are. Propagated very quickly this these memes that you see on TikTok. I think we should discuss in this report about the psychological methods which make this propaganda efficiency within propaganda.”
  EU Supervision of the Rule of Law
• “Thank you. Chair. And I will speak in French. Thank you for inviting our special committee on the European Democracy Shield to this exchange of views. Disinformation is taking increasing number of forms and is affecting a number of increasing number of issues. So we have European stakeholders involved in this. And I think we've just heard as a stark example of this. This is impacting public debate. Our sovereign decisions, whatever the form and whoever responsible, this harms democracy. This impacts confidence in public decisions in those who put them forward and make those decisions. So climate change and climate action does not escape from this phenomenon. We're seeing a complete denial of the facts and of science. There is a scientific consensus, and there are many studies from the IPCC. And we should look at this rather than isolated studies that run counter to what science has established for decades within our special committee. We go beyond looking at the state of affairs. We're looking to the future. We're putting forward recommendations. Protecting democracy can be achieved by making our societies more resilient, by strengthening civil society. The Commission indeed has rallied efforts to raise awareness about the reality of climate change and the need for the green transition. But today, this has been criticised by some political groups present here because of financing for NGOs that are going in this direction, those who respect science, those who see the reality. Some colleagues are trying to call out a scandal where there is no scandal. I wonder if the commission could speak about this. Furthermore, in light of recent events, particularly the blackout which we saw in the Iberian Peninsula or the tragic floods in Valencia last year, we've seen an increase in disinformation related to the climate as well as conspiracy theories about these events. So how is the commission going to fight this fake news and. Questions from the public about the climate. How are you going to face up to the serious threats coming from AI? Because we're seeing, uh, these, uh, large scale language models being based significantly on American data. And of course, there is manipulation now from Washington as well. Thank you.”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you, Commissioner, for your participation to this meeting. As you can see, there is a vast majority of us who want to put light on manipulations coming from outside of the EU, and we hope the centre will help. And of course, there are others who are afraid that there might be censorship. And I hope that this session, uh, provided them with evidence that no one is censored in this committee, in this Parliament and in the European Union. ***Exchange of views with the Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Madam president, Commissioner, never has the construction of a European defence has been so urgent and anticipated by our citizens. Russia doesn't want peace in Europe or Ukraine, and we have Islamism in Africa and elsewhere. The U.S. isn't reliable. They're getting closer to Russia. So we have we can only count on ourselves, and we can only be secure if we're united. We have to fight against the pseudo nationalists, who, against all logic, say that would be stronger if we were divided. We have to combat the pacifists every day who said that by refusing to defend ourselves, we wouldn't be attacked without, uh, without Hungary or Slovakia or the Czech Republic to help Ukraine. And here in the European Parliament, unfortunately, the the NATO secretary general talked about dreamers, those who refuse our strategic defense. If we have an American partner talked about relying on the US, who we can't rely on. Thank you very much.”
  EU competences on defence
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. My thanks also to the speakers. Let me echo what was said by the previous speaker. We have war in Europe that has been ongoing for four years, and that is why we are engaged in such discussions. We also have the transatlantic crisis. However, if we didn't have Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, we would not currently be engaging in such in-depth discussions and giving it our all to build European resources and capabilities. Now, for a number of years we have been talking about operationalizing article 42 seven. There is a white paper on this. I'd like to hear from the experts. What is their view? How would they take stock of progress? What is missing? Hybrids were raised by a number of colleagues, and the answer was to say that you could use 42 seven to respond to an armed attack only. But could you define what sort of weapons would come into question here? What about a cyber attack that damages critical infrastructure? Thank you.”
  EU competences on defence
• “Dear colleagues, I'm pleased to have you here today on the public hearing on China's influence in the EU and the world, which we organized with the Foreign Affairs Committee, in which I will co-chair with the vice president of that group. We will first talk about the strategies and the impact of those strategies from China on our continent in economic and technical, technological, uh, areas. Then we'll see the world influence of China. Uh, we already had experts and representatives of the, uh, union here to tell us about different aspects and initiatives aiming to fight against Chinese interference and hybrid influences from China. And something which was apparent is that we can't underestimate the nature or the size of the hybrid threats that China can wield against Europe and its member states. There are increasing amounts of Chinese actions, which are becoming more sophisticated, with tools of influence and networks of influence, and those become tools of interference, which are, of course, amplified by digital platforms. Continental China also watches Chinese communities abroad and uses pressure to control them and repress them even when they're abroad, whether that be students, tourists or communities which are already persecuted in China and which continue to be so broad when it comes to the instrumentalization of technology. Uh, China has done this, uh, very admirably in a way, and is also using different methods with different European countries depending on their economic weight. The point is for us to be united, both for our allies and our rivals and adversaries. That's meant to be the strength of the European Union being able to avoid isolating its members in this special committee. We've often spoken about Russian hostilities. But we can't ignore what other countries are, uh, directing towards our EU nations. That's why we wanted to dedicate a specific hearing to China's growing influence not just on us, but on the rest of the world. Our first sorry. First, I'll give the floor to the vice president of the committee. Miss Anna morrow, so that she can introduce her side.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “Thank you, Commissioner, for your participation to this meeting. As you can see, there is a vast majority of us who want to put light on manipulations coming from outside of the EU, and we hope the centre will help. And of course, there are others who are afraid that there might be censorship. And I hope that this session, uh, provided them with evidence that no one is censored in this committee, in this Parliament and in the European Union. ***Exchange of views with the Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence”
  Disinformation & online freedoms
• “Thank you Commissioner. You already touched upon the topic I wanted to address. That is how we support Ukraine, because I think we agree that in the short run, our best defense is delivered by the Ukrainian resistance. And you mentioned that the war in the Middle East has diverted military equipment from the US and from Europe towards the Middle East to such an extent that Ukraine might lack necessary equipment, air defense, missiles. You are touring Europe, and rightly so. But after after what you have witnessed already, that is a slow rhythm of manufacturing, a slow level of orders. What do you think should be done? Uh, a few years ago, your predecessor, Thierry Breton, came with ASAP to foster the manufacturing and delivery of ammunitions. Would you consider something similar? So that now that we know that the US is turning its back from Ukraine and that everything is on the European shoulders. We do what we have to do because it's our interests and it's our priority.”
  EU-Ukraine relations · Defence spending
• “Train. According to official sources, the amount of money is spent in the 2025 elections was more than €200 billion spent in in the previous election. The EU referendum. I would say that the interference wasn't just a hybrid war, but a fully fledged war against Moldovan democracy. And I'm referring to a war waged by Russia. Now we'll be listening to Stanislav Seixeiro today. He is the national security adviser of President Maia Sandu in the past. Mr. Secretary, and I'm sorry for mangling your name, was the main analyst of the Institute of Security Studies, uh, focusing on Russia and the eastern neighbourhood of the EU. And we also have Mr. David Colon, a history professor at uh, political Science University at Paris. Mr. colon is a media expert and has written the information war states conquering our minds. And then we also have Mr. Valerio Pasha, uh, also a moldovan political expert. So I'm going to give the floor to Mr. Stanislav Secreto to tell us what exactly happened during the elections. And you have ten minutes, sir. I'm afraid you're going to have to speak English. There won't be interpretation because of the poor quality of sound. Thank you.”
  Foreign interference in Europe
• “19:19 – 16:20:21): Thank you very much indeed Madam High Representative. Thank you very much indeed for having reminded of the importance of international law and recalling that Iran is not our war whereas Ukraine is our priority. However I would like to talk to you about something else a crisis that seems to have got lost in the midst of everything else that is going on and that is a civil war forces seeking to win back parts of Syria. It's extremely serious you've got members of ISIS who have escaped and you were seeing a bombing of parts of Kurdish Syria and Iraq and we the European Union in that region are facing a huge security crisis. We're seeing the risk of a resurgence of ISIS and I would like you therefore to commit to dialogue therefore with the Syrian authorities. It's absolutely essential to make sure there's conditionality to the EU's aid making sure the country does combat ISIS.”
  EU-Syria relations