Athens, 21 March 2023

Hellenic Parliament represented at European Parliament's Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes

The European Parliament's Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, and the strengthening of integrity, transparency and accountability in the European Parliament (ING2) met today, Tuesday 21^st March 2023.

Representatives of the national parliaments also participated in the meeting of the Special Committee. On behalf of the Hellenic Parliament, participated in person the Vice-Chairwoman of the Standing Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice Anna Mani-Papadimitriou participated in person, while MPs Dimitrios Kouvelas and Miltiadis Chatzigiannakis attended the proceedings via teleconference.     

The discussion focused on the experience and best practices implemented by Member States in order to strengthen the integrity of elections and the mitigation of foreign interference in the election framework.

In her intervention, Mrs Mani-Papadimitriou noted that external interferences in the democratic processes of the European Union are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated, due to the technological revolution and the rapid information diffusion. 

This phenomenon, she noted, threatens directly the universal values of the European Union, and undermines the European democracies themselves, as there cannot be a healthy democracy without a well-informed electorate. Given the above, she continued, it is necessary to have a coordinated strategy, with interoperability and cooperation between Member States and the EU, in order to create an appropriate mechanism based on three pillars: prevention, detection and response to these types of attacks. Skilled scientists and staff with specialised technological knowledge should play a key role, while educating citizens even from school age is crucial.

 High resolution images







Back