Albanian government to create commission against foreign influence, disinformation

The Albanian government has announced plans to set up a special parliamentary commission to fight against foreign interference and disinformation in the public sphere, according to Interior Minister Bledi Çuçi.

According to Çuçi’s announcement, the ruling Socialist Party will submit to the Speaker of the Assembly a request to create the body that will “implement a holistic and long-term approach to addressing foreign interference in democratic processes in Albania.”

He continued that this foreign interference may include traditional and social media disinformation campaigns to influence public opinion, direct and indirect financial support for disinformation, the economic blackmail of public actors, and the manipulation of civil society.

The announcement continues that the initiative stems from Albania’s commitment to a Memorandum of Understanding dated 15 February 2024 between Albania and the USA to address the manipulation of information by foreign state actors, the Tirana Declaration of 28 February 2024, of the Ukraine-Southeastern Europe Summit, and EU recommendations for “continuing efforts to close the space for foreign interference and information manipulation.”

No further information was provided on the committee, the threats perceived by the government, or what measures could be in the pipeline to address such matters.

In addition, there has been no announcement on whether the government plans to table a draft law or any legislation in relation to the commission.

EU approach

In 2023, the European Commission announced a planned directive called Defence of Democracy. The directive aims to reveal direct or indirect influence on advocacy or interest groups by obliging them to make their financing public.

At the time, the Commission’s Vice President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Suica, told Euractiv it was due to concerns about third parties or third countries financing civil society in member states.

The directive will lay down a number of requirements, but in the end, it will be up to member states to create their own frameworks and implementation processes.

Civil society groups have criticised the proposed law, including Transparency International, which gathered more than 200 signatures against it. They said that while some elements to further enhance democratic participation and protect civil space were welcome, others would undermine existing and future efforts.

They noted that it would embolden repressive leaders and undercut the EU’s credibility in speaking out about restrictive laws in non-EU countries, which have significantly curtailed the space for independent civil society and been “deployed as a tool to silence critical voices.”

In France, lawmakers on 28 March passed a bill to combat foreign interference, with rapporteur Sacha Houlie saying the bill was necessary because “What is at stake is the protection of our sovereignty, our democratic and liberal values, and the protection of the nation’s interests.”

The bill gives the security services sweeping new rights to monitor communications through the use of algorithms and creates a register of “interest representatives acting on behalf of a foreign principal,” including lobbyists, communicators, and fundraisers who act on behalf of political entities and state-controlled companies.

In Hungary, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban passed a controversial funding law to restrict the work of NGOs that promote the LGBT community and those promoting democracy.

The law creates a government body with an investigatory mandate to demand documents or testimony from any entity or individual in Hungary within 15 days. This can include civil society, journalists, media, and any entity or individual involved in ‘advocacy’.

Investigations can be initiated without judicial review or thresholds of suspicion, and its critics raised concerns about the vague terminology used, such as “information manipulation” and “disinformation activities,” which are not defined in law.

In Italy, there is no specific law, but there are provisions in place where the government can exercise certain special powers to safeguard companies operating in sectors considered of strategic or national interest. There are no specific rules related to foreign entities or those interfering in the information system.

In Poland, the PiS government, now in opposition, established a committee in 2023 to investigate Russian influence. It was widely feared to be a tool to use against media and critics and was slammed by the European Commission for being a potential ‘political tool’.

With Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government now in power, the committee has not been dismantled and will continue to function, leading to fears that it could be used for similar purposes, but this time against PiS.

(Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)

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