12 Amendments of Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS related to 2016/2030(INI)
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the EU is under growing, systematic pressure to tackle the informluence operations, disinformation and misinformation campaigns from the east and from the south;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the information warfare targeting the West was first introduced by the Soviet Union, and has since been an integral part of modern hybrid warfare, targeting not only partners of the EU, but alsothe EU itself, its institutions and all Member States and citizens irrespective of their nationality or religion;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas Russian strategic communicationKremlin's hostile propaganda 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 crisis;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that strategichostile 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 ties;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2
Subheading 2
Recognising the RussianKremlin's information warfare strategy
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recognises that Russia has been aggressively employing a wide range of tools and instruments, such as special foundations and think tanks (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 Europe, gather domestic support and create the perception of failing states in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is seriously concerned by the rapidly growing Russian's activity in Europe seeking to increase Russian's influence and hegemony; stresses that a large part of Russian strategic communicationKremlin's hostile propaganda is aimed at describing countries in central and eastern Europe as belonging to it"Russia's traditional sphere of influence", thereby undermining their sovereignty; notes that falsifying history is one of its main strategies;
Amendment 225 #
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, the lack of accountability in media regulation and is turning any ambiguity in these matters in its favour;
Amendment 284 #
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 regard; stresses that cooperation of the EU and NATO in the field of strategic communication should be substantially strengthened;
Amendment 299 #
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 and its Member States; acknowledges highly professional and valuable work done thus far by the EU Strategic Communication Task Force and calls therefore for the 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, possibly by adding a dedicated budget line for this Task Force; in this regard, stresses the importance of strengthening institutional capacities of the Member States in increasing the EU's positive communication and responding to disinformation and propaganda at a national level and in the neighbourhood; emphasizes the necessity to continue strictly adhering to the principles of editorial independence and ethics of journalism in all on-going and future efforts of the EU strategic communication;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to advance certain legal initiatives in order to be more effective and accountable in dealing with disinformation and propaganda; stresses that while political opinions and expressions are protected by the freedom of expression, there may be a need to strengthen existing legal instruments in order to sanction systematic lies and misinformation; underlines the importance of reviewing the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive, for instance to be able to deal with such cases when hostile propaganda tools are registered as EU media entities and use EU legal system as a cover; calls on the Commission to conduct a thorough review of the efficiency of the existing EU financial instruments and to come forward with a proposal for a flexible solution which can provide direct support to independent media outlets, think tanks, NGOs and enable the channelling of additional resources to organisations that have the ability to do so, such as the European Endowment for Democracy; calls on the Commission to conduct a thorough audit of the efficiency of certain big scale media projects funded by the EU, such as Euronews;
Amendment 338 #
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, encourage networking and cooperation between media and think tanks and exchange best practices and information in these areas;