160th CoR Plenary Session (17 - 18 April 2024)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful tool thanks to technological advances, access to large amounts of data, machine learning and increased computing power. The release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 was a new breakthrough in AI. It demonstrated the vast range of possibilities involved in adapting general-purpose AI to a wide array of tasks and in getting generative AI to generate synthetic content based on prompts entered by the user. In a just a few years' time, a very large share of online content may be generated synthetically. AI is an opportunity to improve the democratic process in our societies. For example, it can help citizens to gain a better understanding of politics and engage more easily in democratic debate.

Although it has always existed, foreign interference in election processes has become increasingly prevalent, exacerbated by new technologies and widespread social media use and increased geopolitical rivalry. The EU and UK have recently increased efforts – also involving other partners – to combat foreign interference.

The initiative results from growing concern that openness of European societies is being exploited for covert interference from foreign governments to manipulate decision-making processes and public opinion in the EU. The impact assessment (IA) clearly defines two problems relating to interest representation activities carried out on behalf of third countries: obstacles to the internal market due to fragmented regulation, and the unknown magnitude, trends and actors of these activities. It considers a non-legislative policy option (PO) along with two legislative sub-options, targeting all third countries and all activities carried out on behalf of governments and affiliates.

In the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe, four European citizens' panels have discussed the development of European integration in broad subject areas. For each of the 39 recommendations put forward by European Citizens' Panel 2: European democracy / Values and rights, rule of law, security, the present paper sets out a selection of the most recent and relevant European Parliament resolutions on the matter and looks at existing EU legislation and other EU funding programmes, supporting and coordinating actions. However, this paper is not intended to serve as an exhaustive list of all European Parliament resolutions and EU-level action in the area, but rather aims at feeding debate and discussion during the Conference plenary.

Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, deepening political polarisation and widespread adoption of advanced technology, the EU faces the threat of foreign interference. Elections to the European Parliament and in many Member States emphasise the need to defend against foreign interference in a critical time for our democracies.