Election cancellation in Romania and situation in Ceuta, main examples in EP debate on foreign interferences and democratic shield

The cancellation of presidential elections in Romania and 2024 and the situation of Ceuta exclave following an unprecedented migration flow were the main examples used by the European deputies to show both the danger of foreign interferences and the effect of Brussel's growing authority in fighting them in the Tuesday debate on the report on recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS).   The report includes concrete recommendations to protect EU democratic institutions against malicious interferences, hybrid attacks and disinformation campaigns that support the setting up of an EU centralized entity to fight these threats. Tomas Tobe, an EPP rapporteur, said in his speech preceding the vote that “European democracy is under attack.”   “Russia is the main threat against our security. Russia is trying to weaken Europe now. Data manipulation, cyber attacks, sabotage and attacks on critical infrastructure. Botnets and massive investments in destabilizing our societies. When foreign interferences combine with algorithms made to create polarization and scandal, the effect is as strong as possible,” said the Swedish European deputy.   “Foreign interferences do not represent freedom of speech nor does the manipulation of our polling system represent freedom of speech. The shield for democracy is very important for Europe. We want a very strong shield for democracy. We must do what is needed, not what can be done,” he pleaded.   European deputy Fabrice Leggeri, from the group Patriots for Europe, said in his turn “We know what happened in Romania. Will France or Poland be next tomorrow?” Several European deputies directly attacked American platforms. “The purpose of American platforms is to spread hatred,” said Helmut Brandstatter, from Renew group.   “Algorithms are turned into toys in Putin's hands and in those of the far right. Butin the end we have support for concrete actions. We will no longer allow our democracy to be controlled by Musk, Trump and Putin,” said Kim Van Sparrentak, from the Green group.   European deputy Tomas Zsechovsky , EPP, said the report was a solid one, but accused that it defended the right to online anonymity.   “Why do we facilitate the life of those trolls or bots? Why allow them to become anonymous? Do you think that trolls can say what they like in Russia or China? Why do we make them equal to us?” the dpeuty asked.   Sophie Wilmes, from Renew group, declared that Kremlin did not need tanks in the Schuman traffic roundabout in order to intimidate, and pointed out the difficulty to counteract foreign interferences.   The report referring to recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield mentions Romania at article 26.   EP invites the Committee to complete investigations on Tik Tok's observance of the Regulation on digital services aboutforeign interferences in 2024 presidential elections in Romania, which pointed out worrying possibilities to exploit bot networks, as well as TikTok's obligation to reduce systemic risks in democratic processes and to ensure discouraging in election periods, the report mentions.