4.6 EP instruments and contributions

It also set up a hybrid fusion cell and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats; agreed an action plan against disinformation; set up a 24/7 rapid alert system for Member States to notify of foreign disinformation campaigns; and got the major online platforms to sign a code of practice to cooperate on tackling disinformation. G7 leaders agreed to the so-called Charlevoix Commitment on Defending Democracy from Foreign Threats, committing to take concerted action to respond to outside threats to democratic elections.

Concerns around cyberattacks within the EU led to the allocation of funds for digital security initiatives in third countries, as a way of boosting their cyber resilience. Under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, the EU is funding an increasing number of cybersecurity projects in other countries. While cyber funding has been primarily aimed at boosting cybersecurity capabilities within the EU, its external component has begun to expand365 . This strand of policy is mentioned here because it is becoming an increasingly high priority for the EU; it has yet to incorporate any significant funding directly targeted at digital authoritarianism as such, although these capabilities could de facto prove highly useful in protecting civil society activists from attacks.

Through its Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group, the EP increased its work from 2014, mainly in the form of election observation and exchanges with other parliaments. Its activities include actions around the Sakharov prize, concrete capacity building, mediation, and support to human rights defenders and journalists. Some of these tools are relevant to new challenges in the digital sphere. The group lists countering fake news and supporting media pluralism among its priorities366 . Its 2020 work programme does not foreground digital issues. Rather, it lays out the geographical priorities for its factfinding missions and (pre- and post-) electoral dialogues, and for its large number of training, young leaders, fellowship, and human-rights related awards programmes. Still, it contains one highly significant mention of digital issues; the EP offered to co-host a meeting with the EEAS to support the latter’s efforts to develop a ‘declaration of principles for international election observation’ that would include digital technology concerns367 . More broadly, the EP has worked to raise the profile of several areas of digital issues and their links with human rights and democracy. In 2012, the EP passed a resolution entitled ‘Digital Freedom Strategy in EU Foreign Policy’ that urged the EU to place higher priority on defending ‘digital freedoms’, in particular within its development and other external funding programmes368. In 2015, it passed a resolution on ‘Human rights and technology: The impact of intrusion and surveillance systems on human rights in third countries’. This focused primarily on concerns that the EU had failed to prevent European companies from supplying digital surveillance equipment to third countries that do not have rigorous human rights assessments. It also called for a number of concrete steps relating to the external promotion of digital rights. These included a ‘human rights and technology fund’ to be created under the EIDHR; new clauses to be included in all trade agreements referring specifically to the need to respect ‘digital freedoms’ and unhindered access to the internet; and a ban on companies failing to apply the digital due diligence elements of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights from EU public procurement calls369 . The interviewees for this study concurred that these EP resolutions have played a role in pushing the Commission and the Council to take action.

365 G. Christou, ‘Cybersecurity in the European Union: resilience and adaptability in governance’, London, Palgrave, 2015. 366 Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group. 367 European Parliament Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group, ‘Annual Work Programme 2020’, 2020. 368 European Parliament, ‘Resolution of 11 December 2012 on a Digital Freedom Strategy in EU Foreign Policy’, 2012/2094(INI), 11 December 2012. 369 European Parliament, ‘Resolution of 8 September 2015 on ‘Human rights and technology: the impact of intrusion and surveillance systems on human rights in third countries’, 2014/2232(INI), 2015.