Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 27 November 2019 - Strasbourg

Interference from other countries in our democracies and elections (topical debate)

  Naomi Long (Renew). – Mr President, in the middle of a UK general election campaign, it is right to be vigilant to the threats posed to our democracy by foreign powers, not least as the lessons of the Brexit referendum have not been learned. Investigative journalism first uncovered the dark money that flowed through Northern Ireland into Great Britain in the crucial last week of that campaign, but some of the murkier details have yet to be fully exposed. And across the UK, we still don’t know the extent of the Russian interference in our politics, as Boris Johnson refuses to release the intelligence report into Russian covert actions in the UK. The way we consume information and conduct our politics in the digital age leaves us vulnerable to targeted propaganda and disinformation campaigns, including those orchestrated from overseas. Social media platforms have largely failed us. Just this week, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, has called for action to tackle disinformation. But we should not ignore the old ways of distorting and disrupting democracy. In Northern Ireland candidates and parties have faced intimidation and threats by paramilitaries in this election, we must fight to continue to uphold the integrity of our democracy.