Closing statement to Democracy Under Pressure campaign
Democracy continues to be under pressure, and a united Europe is the only solution to efficiently respond to the threats our democracy faces from both outside and inside. This year during the Democracy Under Pressure campaign JEF Finland aimed to bring more attention to the often unseen threats in the more traditional democracies. While we currently have serious visible threats in Europe, as has been mentioned this week with the examples of Russian election interference in Hungary and invasion war in Ukraine and the corruption in Serbia and Georgia, we should also remember that the erosion of democracy is gradual and doesn’t come out of nowhere. Thus it is important to recognise the warning signs in our societies. That is why this year we also brought up examples from more established democracies, like in Finland with excessive carefulness in calling out hybrid influence. One of the first signs of democracy being under pressure is cuts in academia, and academic freedom has, according to a 2025 index, gone down in European countries like the UK, Germany, and France. This is linked to political decisions aiming to limit certain knowledge.
We have also brought up broader threats pressuring most, if not all, European countries. The platforms we use for attaining news are owned by huge foreign corporations, whose algorithms guide the democratic discussions towards right-leaning rethorics. Additionally in social media, large events and tragic displays of them get the most attention. While it is also crucial to be aware and fight against these outrageous violations of democracy and autonomy, social media makes it difficult to see what is slowly happening around us. Additionally, the constant need for emotional, fast-paced content makes us desensitized to the horrible events that are happening. As our attention is caught by war and oppression, we get both overwhelmed and numbed by it. This might make us feel too busy and exhausted to see what is happening around us, and too dispirited to think we can do something about it. These beliefs are false, as every individual has influence on their surroundings and a united Europe has the potential to change the world.
All the pressure we are now facing is an opportunity to show our strength and respond as a united Europe. As stated at the beginning of the campaign, the erosion of the rule-based international order changes the global position of all of us and calls us to action. Us, Europe, have to stand up as the new value-based leader, as the current changing world order shakes the very foundation of the possibilities to even have stable democracies. In other words, a threat can be an opportunity, if perceived that way. A united, democratic Europe is also more capable of combating threaths that individual countries are facing.
Additionally, we should never get too confident about the state of our democracies or take democracy for granted, as that makes us overlook the possibilities of it being under pressure, or as we’ve emphasized this year, under attack.
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Pieta Päivänen