Local and regional authorities committed to fight disinformation and hate speech
"The European Democracy Action Plan (EDAP) can vaccinate the European Union (EU) against the democratic backsliding that we have been witnessing for a few years. As local and regional authorities (LRAs), we can implement concrete projects to strengthen democracy." Alexandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk and European Committee of the Regions (CoR) Rapporteur on the European Democracy Action Plan made these remarks during an exchange of views on the working document which will serve as basis for her opinion on the plan proposed by the European Commission.
Dulkiewicz emphasised the need to invest in education to improve media literacy and critical thinking for vulnerable groups who are prone to disinformation. She also spoke about the need to support local and regional offices to deal with hate speech and disinformation. Dulkiewicz said "The EDAP should lead to the identification of concrete actions, which should be put in place in strong cooperation with LRAs. The state of democracy will not be repaired overnight, but the faster we take action, the greater the chance to fight the problem".
Dulkiewicz added that the EDAP together with the 'Strategy to Strengthen the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU' are key to strengthen democracy, the rule of law and knowledge on fundamental rights.
In his statement, William Sleath, Director, Secretariat-General of the European Commission, Directorate Citizens, Health, Migration & Security Union said that a comprehensive effort with partnership at all levels was needed. He said that the EDAP will lead to concrete measures to protect EU values.
During the discussion that ensued, it was regretted that while to a large extent the success of the EDAP will be linked to actions by LRAs, they are unfortunately not mentioned in the European Commission's communication.
Olgierd Geblewicz, EPP-CoR President and President of West Pomerania Region remarked that while the proposals in the plan related to electoral integrity are prepared with a timeline to address the European Elections in 2024, democratic participation in Europe does not happen only every 5 years at European elections. "Regional and local elections happen almost on a monthly basis throughout Europe and these elections are essential for the quality of European democracy. We face similar challenges at regional and local elections – targeting of voters though political online advertising, disinformation and biased public media. Therefore, any new proposal in this respect should take into account the challenges and trends that regional and local democracy faces." Geblewicz added that cities and regions can share their experience with the European Commission through the Local and Regional Barometer 2021.
Jesús Gamallo Aller, Director-General for External Relations and Relations with the European Union for the Region of Galicia and EPP-CoR CIVEX Coordinator said that regional and local politicians stand ready to cooperate with the EU level to ensure transparent political culture at the service of citizens. He called for clear European rules on the transparency of political advertising and also on preventing disinformation online. He added that the EU should remain an inspiration for the quality of democracy worldwide. The work of the CoR's Join Consultative Bodies and Working Groups with regional and local representatives from EU's Neighbourhood are a good platform to exchange best practices in support of democratic values.
The EDAP aims at empowering citizens and building more resilient democracies across the EU by promoting free and fair elections, strengthening media freedom and countering disinformation. The opinion will be adopted in the CIVEX commission on 11 May 2021 and later presented at the June/July CoR plenary session.
