Activities of Jean-Luc SCHAFFHAUSER related to 2016/2030(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
EU strategic communication to counteract anti-EU propaganda by third parties (debate) FR
Amendments (34)
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the EU is under growing, systematic pressure to tackle the information, disinformation and misinformation campaigns from theas a result of the so- called democratic revolutions promoted by the United States (Iraq, Afghanistan, the Arab Spring), the colour revolutions which destabilised eastern and from the southsouthern Europe and the support for totalitarian NATO member Turkey;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the informaose revolutions warfare targeting the West was first introduced by the Soviet Union, and has since been an integral part of modern warfare, targeting not only partners of the EU, but also all Member States and citizens irrespective of their nationality or religionere triggered by information warfare involving disinformation, misinformation, propaganda and perception engineering;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas Russian strategic communication accompanied numerous incidents, including cyber-attacks on Estonia in 2007, the war in Georgia in 2008, disinformation following the Smolensk crash in 2010 and the downing of MH-17 in 2014 and also, on an unprecedented scale, during the annexation of Crimea, aggression against Ukraine and more recently the migration crisiit was propaganda (weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, claims that the Syrian regime was using gas against civilians, caricatural reports of repression in Gaddafi's Libya) that led to the current state of chaos, which is not in Europe's interests, and whereas some of those claims have already been shown to have been false by subsequent events;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas Da’esh and many other Islamic terrorist groups have often used communication strategies as part of their actions against the West and to boost recruitment of European youtha return to cooperation between sovereign states is the only thing that can bring peace; whereas, more generally, foreign powers are trying to make the EU their playground by taking advantage of a puppet Commission and small servile states and stoking resentment against the traditional enemy, Russia, thus undermining the legacy of the founding fathers and the unity of Christian Europe; whereas all of the areas of sovereignty temporarily delegated to the EU have been used by foreign powers against the Member States; whereas the surrender of sovereignty by the Member States is the principal factor behind the EU becoming the first market open to propaganda and tools of influence such as the media;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that strategic propaganda against the EU comes in many different forms and uses various tools, often tailored to match Member States’ profiles, with the goal of provoking doubt, paralysing the decision-making process, discrediting the EU institutions in the eyes and minds of its citizens and eroding western values and transatlantic tiesStresses that, in view of its record and its subservience to foreign powers and special interest groups, the EU has discredited itself in the eyes of the public, without the need for any destabilisation from outside;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the EU institutions to recognise that information warfare is not onlyPoints out that the EU was supposed to ensure peace and that searching for imaginary internal and external EU issue but also an internal oneenemies is the hallmark of a totalitarian system and shows the EU for what it truly is;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the multi-layered character of current EU strategic communications at various levels, including NATO, the EU, the Member States, and NGOs as well as civic organisations; calls for the best possible coordination and exchange of information between the different actors involvedpoints out that this unanimously aggressive stance vis-à-vis a major ally and any Member States that are wary of such warmongering is a threat to both regional and world stability;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recognises that Russia has been aggressively employing a wide range of tools Calls for a comparative analysis to be drawn up of Russia's and the United States' influence in the Member States and the Europeand instruments, such as special foundations (Russkiy Mir,) multilingual TV stations (Russia Today, RIA Novosti), news agencies (Sputnik), social and religious groups (including the Orthodox church), social media and internet trolls to challenge Western values, divide Europitutions, to serve as a basis for discussions; calls for a committee of inquiry made up of journalists, academics, researchers and whistle blowers to be set up to determine exactly who has influence over whom; draws attention in this connection to the remarkable book Circus Politicus by Christophe Deloire, gather domestic support and create the perception of failing states in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood current Director- General of Reporters Without Borders, which sheds light on the nexus of influence that extends right to the heart of the Commission;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is seriously concerned by the rapidly growing Russian activity in Europe seeking to increase Russian influenceclimate of impending war and thegemony; st resses that a large part of Russian strategic communication is aimed at describntment-driven policy that certaing countries in central and eastern Europe as belonging to its traditional sphere of influence, thereby undermining their sovereignty; notes that falsifying history is one of its main strategiesre determined to foster under the cloak of the EU institutions; stresses that this policy is seriously damaging to other States and is preventing eastern and western Europe from pulling together as they ought to;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that Russia is exploiting the absence of a legal international framework in areas such as cybersecurity, and ie need to establish peace in cyberspace; points out that the proper international process for managing the risks of cyber-warfare would entail an international conference, under the aegis of the UN, to adapt conflict-of-laws provisions to this new terrain; stresses that, by excluding emerging powers, the Tallinn Group’s teurning any ambiguity in these matters in its favouro-Atlantic initiative has put the process at risk and has undermined peace in cyberspace worldwide;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Is aware of the range of strategies employed by Da’esh both regionally and globally to promote its political, religious and social narratives; calls on the EU and its Member States to develop a counter- narrative to Da’esh, including through the empowerment and increased visibility of mainstream Muslim scholars who have the credibility to delegitimise Da’esh’s propagandaStresses emphatically that equating UN-recognised States what is no more than a terrorist group flies in the face of our diplomatic traditions, and that such a provocative step is unworthy of responsible decision-makers whose concerns are peace and global stability;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Emphasises that the EU is a targeted audience for Da’esh and calls for the EU and its Member States to work more closely to protect society, in particular young people, from recruitment and radicalisation; calls on each Member State to investigate the socio-demographic reasons that are at the root cause of vulnerability to radicalisationDa’esh recruits chiefly among non-integrated immigrants; notes that the recruitment effort is fed by Muslim Brotherhood propaganda; calls on the EU not to interfere with Member States’ policies for immigration control and for neutralising cells of violent activists or clerics;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 278 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the communication on the Joint Framework on countering hybrid threats and calls for the implementation of its recommendations without delay; calls on countries holding the rotating presidency of the EU to always include strategic communications as part of their programme in order to ensure continuity of work on this topic; welcomes the initiatives and achievements of the Latvian Presidency in this regardStresses that the Latvian Presidency must not allow the aggressive policy of certain eastern European countries towards Russia to be promoted under the cloak of the EU, otherwise both stability and peace in Europe would be placed at risk;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Recognises the possible impact of hostile propaganda on decision-making processes in the EU; calls therefore for the EU Strategic Communication Task Force to be reinforced by turning it into a fully- fledged unit within the EEAS, responsible for the east and for the south, with proper staffing and adequate budgetary resources; asks the EU to set up think tanks on the recent history of conflict propaganda (in the Balkans, Iraq, Libya and Syria and the ‘coloured revolutions’) and to launch a wide-ranging debate about external powers’ strategic use of information;
Amendment 319 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. CallPoints onut the Commission to conduct a thorough review of the efficiency of the existing EU financial instruments and to comat independent media organs are characterised as such by the fact that they receive no subsidies from private forward with a proposal for a flexible solution which can provide direct support to independent media outlets and enable the channelling of additional resources to organisations that have the ability to do so, such as the European Endowment for Democracy public groups or bodies and by the independence of their journalists and channels of distribution or dissemination vis-à-vis political, financial and ideological forces; stresses that, by subsidising media organs which reflect its worldview, the EU is behaving in the same way as States which it criticises;
Amendment 332 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 333 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses its support for initiatives such as the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence in Tallinn or the Radicalisation Awareness Network Centre of Excellence; underlines the need for strengthening analytical capabilities at all levels; calls for the Commission and the Member States to initiate similar projects, engage in the training of journalists, create independent media hubs, support media diversity and exchange best practices and information in these areasEmphasises that when information is standardised by external centres of influence (such as CNN) people are effectively rendered unable to think for themselves, and that this inevitably results in intellectual serfdom; emphasises too that standardising information in a negative way is a method of warfare that aims to prepare people mentally for armed confrontation; solemnly calls for the situation to be de-escalated and for information to be used in a non- ideological way;
Amendment 357 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14