The crisis caused by the pandemic has exacerbated the spread of misinformation, disinformation online as well as the public perceptivity to conspiracy theories. Those challenges affect the quality of European democracy in all member states, regions and cities and challenge established democratic practices including elections. In recent years elections at European, national and regional levels have been affected through interference from foreign actors and domestic non-state actors. While regulation of social media remains a sensitive issue and poses legal challenges at EU level, it is clear that action needs to be taken in order to limit the spread of populism and demagogic movements and their tactics.
As the most trusted level of governance, democratically-elected local and regional politicians must be fully engaged for citizens to regain trust and confidence in public authorities. At the same time, local and regional authorities are committed to fight disinformation, propaganda, manipulation and attempts to mislead people's attitudes. These were the main points raised by EPP-CoR members during a webinar on 'Disinformation as a threat to European democracy'. The event was organized by the Committee of the Regions' (CoR) CIVEX Commission in the framework of its activities on the European Democracy Action Plan and as a contribution to the debate in the Conference on the Future of Europe. Members also discussed foreign interference, media freedom and pluralism.
Mark Speich, State Secretary for Federal, European and International Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia and Chair of the CoR CIVEX Commission said “The pandemic has once again demonstrated the danger and potential scale of disinformation campaigns. We have experienced an upswing in anti-democratic trends that existed before. Interference with political processes and elections at European, national and local level threatens our democracies. Democratically elected local and regional politicians must fight disinformation, propaganda and manipulation. The European Democracy Action Plan published by the European Commission and the related CoR opinion underline this need.”
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdansk and CoR Rapporteur on the European Democracy Action Plan said "Where free and independent media starts to disappear, disinformation, demagogy and propaganda grow stronger whereas democracy gets weaker and weaker."
During the last plenary session, the CoR adopted the opinion of Ms. Dulkiewicz. The opinion argues that municipalities and regions can play an important role in promoting media literacy, critical thinking and transparency in political campaigning, as well as in supporting citizens’ participation in politics. The opinion underlines that local and regional authorities are well placed to take part in the war on disinformation and the dangers it poses. In the opinion, the CoR expressed its belief that a European agency should be set up to carry out preventive measures to tackle disinformation. Furthermore, cities and regions called for the creation of a coherent funding mechanism to tackle disinformation. The recommendations are an endorsement of the European Democracy Action Plan presented by the European Commission in December 2020, which sets out a range of initiatives intended to protect and develop European democracy in a digital era.