European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called disinformation “toxic to democracy” in the European Union (EU), and announced a democratic defense package against “foreign autocrats” like China.
“We must not lose sight of how foreign autocrats are targeting our own countries and foreign entities are funding institutes that undermine our values, [já que] their misinformation is spreading from the Internet to our universities,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
In her third speech on the State of the Union, at the plenary session of the European Parliament, in the French city of Strasbourg, the leader of the community executive stressed that “these lies are toxic for the democracies” of the EU.
He explained: “Earlier this year, the University of Amsterdam closed down a supposedly independent research center, which was actually funded by Chinese entities and was publishing so-called human rights research, rejecting evidence of forced labor camps for Uyghurs as rumours”.
Defending that the EU has to “better protect itself against malicious interference”, Ursula von der Leyen pointed out that the community executive has already advanced legislation to analyze foreign direct investment in European companies, for security reasons.
“If we do it for our economy, shouldn’t we do the same for our values?” he asked.
For this reason, the leader of the European Commission announced a new “democracy defense pact, which will bring to light covert foreign influence and shadow financing.”
Noting that, for more than 70 years, Europe “is marching towards democracy”, Ursula von der Leyen also warned that Brussels “will not allow any autocratic Trojan horse to attack European democracies from within”.
“The profits from our long journey are not guaranteed […] and we must protect our democracies both from the external threats they face and from the vices that corrode them from within. It is the duty and noblest role of my Commission to protect the rule of law,” she added.
At a time when Poland and Hungary face disputes with Brussels over enforcing the rule of law and safeguarding the autonomy of judges, with threats to cut EU funding, Ursula von der Leyen assured that she “will continue to insist on judicial independence.” .
“And we will also protect our budget through the conditionality mechanism,” he concluded.
Source: TSF
