Thursday

21st Sep 2023

Next year's EU election at risk of Russian meddling

  • Europeans will go to polls in May 2019 to elect a new set of MEPs (Photo: Sebastiaan ter Burg)

EU elections in 2019 are likely to be the next big target for Russian propaganda, MEPs have warned.

"Next year the citizens of Europe will elect a new European Parliament. This raises an uncomfortable question: how many seats will Russia get?", Danish centre-left MEP Jeppe Kofod said in Strasbourg on Wednesday (17 January).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Russia also targeted the Scottish independence vote in 2014, recent studies showed (Photo: Aleksandra Eriksson)

"Let's not kid ourselves, Russian meddling in democratic elections is no longer the exception, it is becoming the norm," he added.

Kofod spoke at an EU parliament debate on what the assembly described in its press release as a "Kremlin-orchestrated" campaign of "leaks, fake news, disinformation campaigns, and cyberattacks" that stretched back to the UK referendum on leaving the EU in mid-2016 and which also targeted the French and German elections and Catalonia's independence referendum last year.

"The pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign is an orchestrated strategy - delivering the same disinformation stories in as many languages as possible, through as many channels as possible, as often as possible," the EU's security commissioner, Julian King, said on Wednesday.

He said a counter-propaganda cell, called Stratcom, in the EU foreign service had documented "more than 3,500 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation" in European media in the past two years.

Pro-Kremlin parties lost in the French and German votes, but King added that "if we look at opinion polls measuring how many people accept obviously disinformation planted in pro-Kremlin media, then unfortunately we have to conclude that Russian disinformation can be extremely successful."

Stratcom has a staff of 22 people and a budget of €1.1 million a year, but Spanish centre-right MEP Esteban Gonzales Pons said Russia spends at least €1 billion a year on its state media.

German centre-right deputy David McAllister said Stratcom needed "adequate funding and increased personnel".

King, the EU commissioner, also said "we need to redouble our efforts to debunk this propaganda".

But MEPs from Ukip, a British anti-EU party, thanked Russia for giving them a platform.

"Russia Today [a Russian state broadcaster] gave Ukip a voice in the days when we couldn't get it from the BBC. So, perhaps they are defending freedom and a freedom that you lot want to close down," the party's David Coburn said.

Ukip's Gerard Batten said: "You're [the EU] seeking to create a scapegoat for your own unpopularity with the peoples of Europe. Don't blame the Russians for your own mistakes".

US giants

Other MEPs put the spotlight on US social media firms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, which have become leading conduits for fake news.

"Facebook, the world's richest and most powerful publisher, has replaced editors with algorithms, shifting societies away from critical thinking whilst making billions from our clicks," Latvian centre-right MEP Sandra Kalniete said.

Facebook, which recently said Russia spent just €0.97 on adverts targeting the UK referendum, promised on Wednesday to widen its search.

Simon Milner, the firm's UK policy chief, said the initial probe had looked only at ads bought by the Internet Research Agency, a former Kremlin-run troll farm in St Petersburg.

"We would like to carry out this work promptly and estimate it will take a number of weeks to complete," he said.

Senior executives from the three US companies also promised to do more at a US Senate hearing on Islamic extremism and Russian propaganda in Washington the same day.

Twitter's Carlos Monje, its US public policy chief, said the firm planned to send alerts to every user who had received bogus information from the Internet Research Agency in the US elections last year.

He said Twitter was now removing 4 million "maliciously automated" accounts or bots a week, even though most of the dodgy content was designed to monetise clicks rather than to make a political impact.

US hardball

"This [Russia's US campaign] was an attack on the very foundation of American democracy and we must do everything in our power to see that it never happens again," Democratic senator Bill Nelson said.

The US has imposed a package of sanctions to punish Russia for election meddling in a contrast to the EU's softer approach.

The US treasury and state department are currently preparing a list of several hundred Russian tycoons said to have Kremlin ties.

The list will be passed to Congress on 29 January, prompting a debate on whether to slap visa bans and asset freezes on some or all of those concerned.

"Will the EU go along with the US policy line or not? More formal coordination between the EU and the US would be desirable," Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, recently told EUobserver.

Investigation

Sex and lies: Russia's EU news

France and Germany have been targeted for years with fake news and lies designed to incite sexual revulsion toward migrants and the politicians who gave them shelter.

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies
  2. Antifascism and fascism are opposites, whatever elites say
  3. MEPs back Germany's Buch to lead ECB supervisory arm
  4. Russia to blame for Azerbaijan attack, EU says
  5. Fresh dispute may delay EU-wide migration reforms
  6. MEPs call for extra €10bn to boost EU's long-term budget
  7. No changes to Turkey deal on Nato, Sweden says
  8. Socialist MEP defends own side jobs after voting to ban others

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us