Source: European Parliament
ISSUES AT STAKE • Increasing strategic and systemic attacks on European democracy and fundamental values reflect growing pressures on democracy as a system across the world. In addition to threats from traditional authoritarian adversaries, risks in the digital realm are growing. • The proposed European democracy shield aims to counter foreign information manipulation and interference, preserve fairness and integrity of elections, support independent media and journalists as well as protect civil society. • Moreover, EU digital regulation put in place in recent years to protect citizens is facing increasingly organised challenges from big corporate players, which are also picking up growing support from political actors outside as well as inside the EU. • This challenges the strategically important enforcement of the EU’s digital regulation – initially a key dimension of the initiative – while at the same time reducing the number of democratic allies on which the EU can rely for support. • The outgoing Polish EU Presidency placed the defence of democracy and the fight against disinformation under a broad security umbrella, emphasising the role of civil society in building resilience. The incoming Danish Presidency further builds on the EU’s whole-of-society approach with an explicit focus on the role of media and culture for democratic resilience. • The European Parliament’s special committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS), which was set up in December 2024, is playing an active and visible role in providing input to the Commission, further building on previous work. As the only directly elected institution – representing all political groups – the outcome of the work of Parliament’s EUDS carries special democratic legitimacy of strategic importance for the future of European democracy and, by extension, for the European project.