In a report voted today, the European Parliament describes propaganda and disinformation as strategic challenges to peace and stability in the EU. Thereby, propaganda of the Russian Kremlin and Islamic terror groups constitute a key challenge. Rebecca Harms, Co-President of the Greens/EFA-Group in the European Parliament, comments:
“President Putin has established propaganda as part of his aggressive foreign policy efforts to re-enforce influence in central and eastern European countries and to weaken the cohesion within the European Union.
With the massive use of false information the Russian Kremlin has tried to discredit the Euromaidan movement and the transformation of Ukraine. With the use of propaganda it tried to justify its own aggressive policy in Crimea and Donbas.
The European Parliament today acknowledged that via massively financed Russian state media which broadcasts in many EU-member states as well as via internet trolls, the Kremlin leads campaigns in EU-member states. It is its intention to fuel social conflicts, undermine trust in the democratic institutions and weaken the cohesion within the European Union. The most recent example is the Kremlin’s attempt to denigrate refugees as potential rapists, criminals and terrorists.
EU-Parliamentarians have today underlined that it is high time for the EU to deal with Russian propaganda. The EU’s answer must not be our own propaganda. But the EU must improve its skills to identify propaganda and to sensitize journalists and civil society to it. The department within the EU’s external service which is responsible for dealing with foreign propaganda must be strengthened. Independent journalism remains the key answer to propaganda.”
Find Rebecca Harms´speech here.
