The European Democracy Shield

Key points

The EESC:

• warns that democracy, the rule of law and European values face threats from both external and internal actors;

• calls for stronger EU measures to protect democracy, including within the enlargement policy, and support to candidate countries in defending against internal and external threats;

• offers to strengthen European democracy by providing civil society and social partners with a platform to engage in EU politics;

• calls for closer cooperation with civil society organisations to counter disinformation and propaganda;

• asks EU legislators to simplify funding procedures for civil society, reduce reporting obligations, and expand lump-sum funding options;

• demands stricter enforcement of rule of law standards in Member States and assessment of EU legislation’s impact on civic space;

• calls for a new multiannual financial framework (MFF) that upholds democracy and applies conditionality strictly, withholding funds from governments that breach EU values while ensuring civil society and compliant local authorities can access funding;

• encourages the EU and Member States to set up educational programmes to train staff in risk awareness, and to make media literacy a key priority in schools and lifelong learning;

• urges investment in European digital platforms and AI to reduce dependence on third-country providers;

• calls for strong enforcement of regulations on social media regulations, regular evaluation of their effectiveness, and resistance to weakening them through trade talks;

• supports strengthening the EuroStack initiative to develop a European model of democratic digital innovation, and asks for increased funding for the East StratCom Task Force and EuropeDirect Centres to build an EU-wide factual information network;

• calls on national governments to reform party donation rules, close loopholes, and ban third-country financing of political parties;

• proposes making the European Parliament Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield a permanent one on dedicated to the defence and strengthening of democracy.