Anti-Russian paranoia received an unexpected rebuff in the European Parliament
European MPs disagreed during yesterday's debate in the European Parliament on the topic “Russia - the influence of propaganda on EU countries”, сообщает Kommersant.
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Thus, presenting the program for Bulgaria’s presidency of the Council of the EU, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said: “Despite all the criticism against Russia, despite our differences regarding sanctions, I believe that the European Union should normalize relations with such a large neighbor.”
At the same time, European Commissioner for Security Julian King said that Moscow continues to “wage a coordinated propaganda campaign in Europe.”
“At the same time, many people agree with the disinformation spread by Russia and the Kremlin,” King acknowledged.
“Russian interference in elections is becoming the norm,” said Danish Social Democrat Jeppe Kofod, naming among the “victims” Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Britain and other countries.
Participants in the debate also spoke about the need to “raise the level of critical thinking of Europeans,” and also called for strengthening the EU task force on strategic communication (East StratCom), created in March 2015 to combat “fake news” and “counter Russian disinformation campaigns.”
The publication recalls that earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov argued that the leadership of some European states uses “unsubstantiated rhetoric about Russian propaganda and hybrid threats” to justify their own actions that violate basic democratic principles. At the same time, the publication notes that at the debates in the European Parliament this position was unexpectedly represented quite widely.
Thus, the representative of Estonia, Yana Toom (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe), said: “As a child, in response to the question of who is to blame, I always heard one thing: Western capitalism and Ronald Reagan. Now I hear that Vladimir Putin is personally to blame for everything. I cannot agree with such a black and white approach.” Briton Gerard Batten (Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy) called on his colleagues “not to blame the Russians for their own mistakes.” He accused European politicians of wanting to distract the citizens of their countries from serious problems such as uncontrolled migration and stagnation of the eurozone. “But Putin is not the reason for your unpopularity, but you yourself,” the deputy said to the applause of a number of colleagues.
The Spaniard Javier Couso Permuy (European United Left/Northern Green Left), like his compatriot Esteban Gonzalez Pons, also addressed the Catalan topic, but with the opposite message. “People just repeat the mantra that they have some evidence. Although there are none. This is paranoia and a political strategy aimed at preventing good relations with Russia,” said the deputy, who periodically appears on RT. This channel was also remembered by the British David Coburn (“Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy”), who recalled that RT gave the floor to representatives of the United Kingdom Independence Party, while they were not allowed on the BBC.
In turn, the representative of the Christian Democrats, David McAllister, was outraged that “some deputies used the infrastructure of the European Parliament to speak on RT.” “This must be stopped!” - he said. And the Spaniard Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) summed up the discussions by noting: “If I am paranoid, this does not mean that I do not have real enemies.”
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