European Union to Strengthen Protection of Democracy and Civil Society

TALLINN - The European Commission on Wednesday presented a European Democracy Defence Programme, which outlines a series of concrete measures to empower and protect democracy throughout the European Union.

The Commission also presented an EU Civil Society Strategy to better engage, protect, and support organizations that play a crucial role in society.

One of the program's objectives is to establish a new European Centre for Democratic Resilience, which will pool expertise and resources from the European Union and its member states to enhance the EU's collective ability to prevent, detect, and respond to threats. This will help counter evolving common threats, particularly foreign information manipulation and disinformation.

To strengthen the integrity of the information space, an independent European network of fact-checkers will be established, among other measures, to enhance fact-checking capabilities in all official EU languages. The Commission will collaborate with the signatories of the Code of Practice on Disinformation and prepare an incident and crisis response protocol under the Digital Services Act to facilitate cooperation among relevant authorities and ensure a rapid response to large-scale, potentially cross-border information operations.

The Commission will expand the activities of the European Election Cooperation Network, issue guidelines on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in electoral processes, and update the election information guidelines stipulated in the Digital Services Act.

To help counter the growing violence against election candidates and elected officials, the Commission will present a recommendation and best practices for ensuring the safety of politicians. Separate support measures for independent and local journalism are also planned. The Commission will also issue an updated recommendation on the safety of journalists and enhance measures to combat so-called SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation).

To increase societal resilience and citizen engagement, the Commission will, among other measures, promote media and digital literacy for all ages and develop an EU citizenship competence framework with guidelines for strengthening civic education in schools.

With the EU Civil Society Strategy, the Commission will enhance cooperation with civil society organizations, pursuing three main objectives: better engagement with, support for, and protection of these organizations, as well as ensuring their sustainable and transparent funding.

According to Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, liberal democracy is under attack. "We see campaigns, including from Russia, that are specifically designed to polarize our people, undermine trust in our institutions, and influence politics in our countries. The Democracy Defence Programme is part of Europe's response to protect the core elements of our democracy: a free media, fact-based debate, and fair elections. If we want democracy to endure, we must protect it better," Kallas said.