JEF Finland is concerned about attempts by actors outside the EU to influence the European Parliament elections. The topic has again made headlines in Europe this past week. The chair of Italy’s far-right Lega party, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, is suspected of having tried to channel financial support from Russian sources into Lega’s election campaign through dubious means.
“Regardless of whether the funding was actually accepted, attempts by outside actors to influence the European elections are to be strongly condemned”, states JEF Finland President Iiris Asunmaa.
Attempts at influence are not limited to the European elections alone, but also target national elections in European countries. For example, Marine Le Pen, who ran in France’s 2017 presidential election, secured a multi-million-euro loan for her party from a Russian bank.
In addition to financial influence attempts, disinformation campaigns can also be expected around the European elections. “It says something about the importance of the European elections that they attract this much attempted influence. Europeans are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves who to vote for”, affirms Asunmaa.
On 21 March, JEF Finland, together with Eurooppalainen Suomi ry, is launching a European election campaign that fact-checks politicians’ claims about the European Union. The fact-checking campaign aims to increase substantive debate about the EU and to weed out fake news.
For more information:
Iiris Asunmaa
President
[email protected]
+358 50 918 7390
Mikko Kymäläinen
Secretary General
[email protected]
+358 40 9112049