“The European Commission in Brussels approved the “European Shield of Democracy” initiative and a new strategy for EU civil society, which should strengthen the fight against Russian disinformation and provide up to 9 billion euros to support media and public initiatives until 2034.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Correspondent of “European Truth” from Brussels
Details: The European Shield of Democracy and the Strategy for Civil Society, approved by the European Commission, are aimed at combating hybrid threats and fake news from Russia.
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“Our democracy is under pressure and under attack. It will soon be four years since Russia launched its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. And even longer since it began to purposefully attack the European Union through hybrid attacks, information manipulation and interference,” Executive Vice President of the European Commission Hennna Virkkunen told reporters, presenting the “Shield of Democracy” to journalists in Brussels.
According to her, the “European Shield of Democracy” will have three components: protection of the information space of the EU, strengthening of democratic institutions and strengthening of the stability of society.
Regarding the protection of information in the online space, the purpose of the tool is a rapid and coordinated response to large-scale and potentially cross-border information transactions.
The direction of strengthening democratic institutions focuses on ensuring free and fair elections, as well as free and independent media – and for independent media, civil society and creative industries, additional financial support from the EU budget for a total amount of up to 9 billion euros (Agora EU program) is foreseen for the period until 2034
The third component of the “Shield” is dedicated to strengthening the resilience of society so that citizens can fully play their role in democracy.
“This means investing in media literacy, especially among young people, to teach them to recognize reliable sources and navigate the information environment,” Virkkunen emphasized.
“Today we also adopted a new EU Strategy for Civil Society, which will complement the European Shield of Democracy… This strategy will ensure coordinated and effective support and protection of civil society organizations across the EU,” the European Commissioner said.
As part of the Strategy until 2026, a new Civil Society Platform will be created, which should strengthen the dialogue on the protection and promotion of EU values.
An online Knowledge Hub on Civic Space will also be created to facilitate access to existing projects and tools, including current protection measures.
In the proposal for the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the European Commission proposed to significantly increase financial support for civil society organizations.
In addition, the European Commission plans to introduce measures that will facilitate access to various sources of funding, creating closer ties with private donors and communities providing pro bono legal aid.
As “European Truth” reported, the European Commission plans to create European Center for Democratic Stability – bodies for countering manipulation of information and disinformation by Russia and other authoritarian regimes.
The European Union is constantly the object of Russia’s information operations, for example operations “Double”within which copies of well-known official websites and mass media were created to spread disinformation.