In particular, the proposed requirement is that entities working on their behalf must register.
This proposal is fundamentally different from a similar US law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. It is distinguished by the fact that the Community intends to enforce it through fines rather than criminal sanctions or prohibitions.
“This is not the so-called law on foreign agents,” said Vera Jourova, the European Commissioner responsible for transparency.
“We welcome open debate, but when influence is done covertly, it can be deceptive and hinder democratic processes,” she added.
According to the European Commission, the initiative is proposed to be implemented before the June 2024 elections to the European Parliament. Recently, these upcoming elections have raised serious concerns about possible interference by outside actors such as Russia.
This proposed legislation on the protection of democracy requires entities to register in a transparency register, to publicly publish key data about their representative activities and to keep documents for four years.
For the proposal to enter into force, it still needs to be approved by the EP and the member states of the Community.
The EP itself was embroiled in a scandal related to foreign influence last year.
The scandal, known as Cattargate, began last December when Belgian investigators raided several locations in Brussels, arrested four suspects and seized more than 1.5 million euros. EUR cash.
Investigators are focusing on alleged efforts by Qatar and Morocco to influence EP lawmakers through bribes.
Some of the suspects admitted their involvement in the fraud ring, while others maintain their innocence. Both Qatar and Morocco deny any involvement in the situation.
“Several democratic states in the world have already taken or are about to take action when it comes to foreign interference, and the EU can contribute by setting its own standards,” said V. Jourova.
“We are setting a democratic standard to address this issue without shutting down or restricting any activity,” she added.
In addition, the European Commissioner said that fines ranging from one percent of the company’s or group’s turnover or up to EUR 1,000 will be imposed for violations. per person.
“Regarding sanctions, I want to emphasize that what we are doing is introducing a set of transparency rules. We are not in the field of criminal justice, as is the case with similar laws in the United States or Australia,” said V. Jourova.
#European #Union #proposes #measures #limit #interference #foreign #governments #domestic #politics
2024-08-07 20:05:27
