The upcoming elections to the
\nEuropean Parliament are one of the most important landmarks of the Romanian
\nPresidency of the Council of the EU. In fact, even before Romania’s taking over
\nthe 6-month rotating presidency, EU officials informed Bucharest that no less
\nthan 257 files were to be debated in only four months, because in May the
\nEuropean political scene would be dominated by the election campaign. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Against this background, one of the
\npriorities of the Romanian presidency is to combat online disinformation. The
\nRomanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Geroge Ciamba, hopes that an
\nagreement on this topic between the EU institutions will be concluded soon, for
\nthe legislative package regulating the European elections to come into force in
\nApril. The citizens of the members states must be able to vote freely, without
\nany inference in the election process, Ciamba has stated. That is why combating
\ndisinformation is one of the priorities on Romania’s agenda, and cyber-security
\nis part of the strategic plan that is to be presented to the EU partners in
\nFebruary. In fact, analysts have long warned that the avalanche of fake news
\nthat circulates online is deliberately undermining the credibility of EU
\ninstitutions and turn the very founding principles of the EU into an object of
\nderision. Beneficiaries of such disinformation campaigns are extremist
\npoliticians and parties, be they far-right or far-left, populist, secessionist
\nor just anti-European. George Ciamba:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We have talked about means of
\nensuring a better communication about Europe, with the aim of leaving no room
\nfor disinformation. We should not forget that such campaigns target the
\nEuropean institutions. We have agreed that Romania’s priority is the priority
\nof the European Parliament too, and that our ambition to come up with
\nconclusions in February is a normal and necessary level, because the European Parliament
\nelections are due soon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels
\nrecalls that new rules have already been promoted, allowing financial sanctions
\nagainst political parties and foundations that abusively use personal data of
\npotential voters, in order to deliberately influence the outcome of the
\nelection. Sanctions would stand at 5% of the annual budget of the guilty party
\nor foundation. Moreover, once subject to such sanctions, the said parties would
\nno longer benefit from EU funding the next year. The new regulations, however, can
\nonly come into force when officially approved by the European Parliament. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the goals of Romania’s Presidency of the Council of the EU is to keep the upcoming European Parliament elections free of fake news and disinformation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":80218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[28882],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-80504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-european-elections"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n