The nature of the implementation of the European Commission’s controversial directive to limit foreign interference will be up to leaders of member states, Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica explained in an interview with Euractiv.
In response to claims of increasing malicious influence from foreign actors, the European Commission proposed a ‘Defence of Democracy’ package, in mid-December, the main goal of which is to reveal indirect foreign influence on advocacy or interest groups by obliging them to make their financing streams open to the public.
“We think that some of them may be financed by third parties or third countries, and we want to know who, where and how much is financing civil society organisations,” Šuica, the Commission’s Vice-President for Democracy and Demography said in an interview with Euractiv.
Civil society organisations were quick to criticise the directive, citing fears that the transparency rules would provide a tool for member states to control and restrict their activities.
The concerns were fuelled in part by Hungary’s foreign funding law that restricts the work of NGOs that promote democratic freedom and LGBTQ+ rights.
“It’s totally different and not criminalising. It’s about democracy, but in the end, it will depend on those who are in power in member states,” Šuica said.
Member state implementation
The nature of Commission directives is to set out a framework for member states to reach a common goal. How this is achieved, however, is up to the individual states themselves, within the boundaries of the framework itself.
As such, each country can devise its own laws on how to achieve the funding transparency of their civil society organisations.
Critics of the new law fear that this leeway could be misused by some countries to limit their actions and publicly shame them as foreign agents, for example.
“The member states have some freedom in the implementation, since this is a directive, but I think they will not misuse it,” Šuica explained.
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Originally, the package was supposed to be presented in the middle of the year.
Šuica explained that the delay was needed to reflect on some of the complaints by civil society organisations. As a consequence, an impact assessment was carried out, which complemented the package.
“I think they misunderstood. They thought that we want to control and monitor them, which is not the case. It’s only to increase transparency – to have them being transparent,” she said.
Now that the package of the controversial directive and two recommendations on strengthening electoral processes and citizens’ participation has been presented, it is up to the member states and the European Parliament to bring the three parts across the finish line.
The Commissioner is confident that the directive will be passed before European elections, as she had “not seen that much criticism against it” in the European Parliament.
“I think it’s of utmost importance to pass it,” she stressed.
The burden to do so is now on the co-legislators, or else the transparency tool will be delayed until some time after the elections in June next year.
Outside threat
While this directive will be applied throughout Europe, its impact could be particularly high in Brussels.
Brussels itself, as the unofficial capital of the EU, is a high-value target for any kind of influence – commercial, public or foreign. With countless diplomats from around 180 embassies and additional consular missions to the EU, the city is one of the first addresses for foreign national interests.
The package was announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, gaining further momentum in the wake of the so-called Qatargate corruption scandal of December 2022.
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Šuica expressed that she realised that “we have to defend and protect our democracy because the reality is very complex nowadays. The geopolitical situation is very complex and there is influence from different countries.”
In addition, von der Leyen set out her mandate to build a geopolitical Commission and in 2021 made clear that China is a systemic rival.
“The proposal is aimed at Russian influence, it’s about Chinese influence, it’s about Belarus, but there are some others who may be hidden,” Šuica added.
“We are aiming at harmonisation, but as I said it depends on who is in power. Maybe in Poland you can harmonise now, but two months ago you were not able to do it,” she said.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
