Sandra Kalniete (PPE). – Madam President, I would like to praise Vice—President Mogherini for the great work done by the small team East StratCom in the External Action Service. I would also like to praise Ms Fotyga for her excellent report. I believe that the very small amount of money spent on the work of the team is some of the most efficiently used in the EU budget. However, the strategic communication efforts remain seriously underfunded and understaffed. Countering the hybrid information operations is critical for preserving our democracies, and indeed our Union. I therefore call on Vice—President Mogherini immediately and significantly to increase the resources allocated to this task, particularly to the task of countering the billions of propaganda dollars spent by Putin’s agencies.