Voici —extraite et présentée par APT [APT News]— l’intervention de l'ancienne eurodéputée et militante irlandaise Clare Daly, qui met à nu la sinistre réalité des politiques européennes dites effrontément de « défense de la démocratie ».
Qualifiée de « propagandiste russe » simplement pour avoir dit la vérité —à savoir, primo, que la guerre en Ukraine était une guerre par procuration menée par l'OTAN contre la Russie ; secundo, que les citoyens européens souffraient davantage que l'économie russe des sanctions imposées par l'Europe à la Russie—, Daly s'en prend au cadre de désinformation de l'Union européenne, aux « sanctions hybrides » et à la répression systématique de la dissidence.
Des journalistes propalestiniens confrontés à des interdictions de voyager et à des gels d'actifs aux citoyens sanctionnés pour avoir remis en question les mesures liées à la COVID ou les politiques de l'OTAN, Daly révèle comment les mots et les idées sont traités comme des armes et comment l'UE réduit de plus en plus au silence les voix qui remettent en question son discours.
« Si c'est eux aujourd'hui, ce sera vous demain », prévient Daly, soulignant l'urgence pour les citoyens de s'organiser, de protéger la liberté d'expression et de demander des comptes aux dirigeants européens.
Regardez-la expliquer comment les « sanctions hybrides », la répression politique et le contrôle des médias remodèlent la démocratie en Europe, et pourquoi chacun devrait y prêter attention avant qu'il ne soit trop tard.
Sujets clés : Politique de désinformation de l'UE, sanctions hybrides, liberté d'expression, Clare Daly, reportages pro-palestiniens, Parlement européen, démocratie menacée, allégations de propagande russe, censure en Europe.
TRANSCRIPTION (Transcription, liens et contenus entre crochets sont de mon cru) :
Ondřej Dostál: And now it is a good time to introduce Clare Daly. It is not necessary, because everybody in this house already knows Clare Daly.
She is from Ireland, a campaigner, activist, trade unionist who served as a local councillor from 2000 and then as a national MEP in Ireland from 2010.
And she already had a formidable reputation of an opposition legislator winning many policy victories and taking the Irish government to account.
During COVID and during the past ten years in Parliament, you held European bureaucracy to account with a great success, and I hope you will tell us more about the nice or less nice things which happen here in Europe.
Thank you, Clare.
Clare Daly: Well, thanks very much. I suppose first and foremost to everybody for being here. Some old faces, some new.
But a special thanks to Ondřej for organizing and for Fidias for being here, because we meet at a very dangerous juncture in world history, when very few people at European leadership level, either in member states or here, in these European Union bodies, understand the scale of the repression which is undermined and ongoing at the moment, let alone are prepared to do anything about it.
So, we are extremely grateful to Ondřej for organizing this event and we're very lucky that he is here.
[Fidias: I give it up for Ondřej!]
In this building, a couple of weeks ago, downstairs, the Irish commissioner, the main man, Michael McGrath is his name, he's responsible for rule of law in the European Union, and he addressed the plenary session of the European Parliament.
And he told MEPs on that day that democracy is the founding value of the European Union, together with respect for rule of law and fundamental rights.
He told them that freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association, and the right to participate in democratic life are enshrined in EU treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, EU legislation and common constitutional traditions of member states.
And he then went on and told them that citizens should be able to form their own opinions in a public space where there is access to reliable information from a plurality of sources with different views, which can be expressed, where political discussions can be confronted and where it's possible to disagree with one another.
Powerful stuff indeed.
Who in hell would disagree with that?
But it's so brazenly out of touch with reality that I think many people would have found themselves scratching their head and going, "Where is this utopia that he's talking about?"
And none more so than myself and my colleague, former MEP Mick Wallace, who's also here today, who know the commissioner well. And we knew him from our time in the Irish Parliament, and he never stood out then as a crusader for democracy.
In fact, he was a member of successive governments which were entirely actually undemocratic in their nature.
And his newfound interest in democracy actually was kind of particularly uncharacteristic, until you looked at the title of the debate that he was introducing, and it was called The Hungarian government's drift to Russian-style repression, legislative threats to freedom of expression and democratic participation. In other words, in layman's terms, this is the ongoing standoff between the centrist parties which have ruled Europe for decades now, who call themselves liberal, and the so-called illiberal regimes, on the other hand, led by Hungary's president Victor Orbán.
And then, McGrath's words make sense, because the real reason why the EU leadership stands so staunchly in defending free speech in Hungary is that it's speech that they agree with.
And it's an entirely different matter if you have speech which they don't agree with.
And that is the context of the European Union's disinformation policy. It's the fundamental point that people have to understand.
It has nothing to do with democracy. It's a tactic that they use for people they don't like. And first and foremost, and most importantly, it is to clamp down on dissent on those who would have the audacity to challenge those people who are in power.
And so, we have this fable of the EU's official platform for its disinformation obsession that our democracies are under attack from malign foreign actors who want to spread disinformation to undermine our societies and our governments, to influence our elections, to put us all against each other and break down our unity.
And to stand up to this terrible threat, we have to defend our democracy —by cracking down on disinformation and promoting unity in the European Union. It's absolute and utter nonsense, from start to finish!
Of course, foreign interference exists.
Of course, states have the right to defend themselves from outside influence seeking to undermine them for the benefit of themselves.
But Russian bots didn't sway European elections.
Their outcomes were very firmly determined by domestic matters.
Look at… we all know that all states do propaganda. But what I found, when I was a member of the INGE committee —which was the [Special] committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, which I was the coordinator on the left group for three very long years, I can tell you—, but from my experience on that committee, the problem wasn't propaganda that actually came from external sources or foreign governments.
The problem was narratives, domestically, that they didn't agree with.
And I suppose I have to be honest now and confess at this stage that I would say that, wouldn't I? Because I'm actually a Russian propagandist, believe it or not, according to a Ukrainian hit list or whatever.
And the two reasons why I'm a Russian propagandist is I said two things:
One, that the war in Ukraine was a NATO proxy war [Marco Rubio agrees].
And the second, that the people of Europe were suffering more than the Russian economy from the sanctions that Europe had imposed on Russia.
Now, I happen to stand over both of those things still. But rather than engage with me on the content of those issues, on the fact that Stoltenberg came in here [7.09.2023] and told us that NATO provoked the war [cf. Jeffrey Sachs, NATO Chief Admits NATO Expansion Was Key to Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The continuing U.S. obsession with NATO enlargement is profoundly irresponsible and hypocritical. And now Ukrainians are paying a terrible price, 20.09.2023], on the pauperizing reality for European citizens crushed under the cost of living issue… rather than discussing those issues with me and taking responsibility, as the European leaders who brought them in, it's much easier to smear me as a Russian agent or a Russian propagandist, and that is what the European Union's disinformation policy is designed to do: to silence anyone who questions their narrative, the official narrative.
And to do that, they even have a toolkit to whip us into line, to suppress certain kinds of speech and to manage the kinds of information that are allowed to circulate in our society.
So, if you question their COVID policy, you're an anti-vaxxer.
If you criticize Israel's genocide, you're anti-Semitic.
And if you argue for peace in the war in Ukraine, well, then, you're a Kremlin stooge or something like that.
That's basically what's going on here. And how the European Union is going to deal with that disinformation comes under the ‘Defence of Democracy’ package, they used to call it, when I was here.
I mean, did you ever? Like, it's just pathetic.
It's even been rebranded worse now. It's The European Democracy Shield [un truc carrément 1984 !].
I mean, where do these people get off?
And the committee is even called the European Democracy Shield Committee! And you literally could not make this stuff up.
And the whole basis of it is, is that ideas are now dangerous and they pose a fundamental threat to our democracy allegedly.
The public sphere, the media, social media, where our society learns about itself and public opinion is shaped: this is now a battleground.
Words and ideas are weapons. And the European liberals are here to save us from that, to defend us from these outrageous attacks.
And let's be honest about it, despite that fact that this has accelerated massively since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there has always been a program of repression by the European political establishment. And up until now, the toolkit has been kind of a soft form of repression really. They had a number of tactics —you can read about them in the INGE report, which is the report of the old committee that I was on—, but the approach at that time was kind of to do stuff like… drown out dissenting narratives with propaganda in support of the official EU narrative.
Now, when we do it, it's not propaganda, of course. It's called ‘Strategic Communications’, because we're the good guys, but that was what they used to do there. Then, they sought to co-opt social media platforms to derank narratives they don't like. And then, they've pumped funding into these so-called fact-checking organizations to police online discourse.
Now, we warned about this. They even toyed with the idea of making contradicting governments a crime. Did you ever? They had to back away from that one because that would be even a little bit too far to go, and you'd have to bring in legislation and a court case to deal with that.
And this is where the European Union 17th set of sanctions comes into play , because what you have here is sanctions targeting disinformation, ‘Hybrid Sanctions’, they call them [Council of the EU, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine: EU agrees 17th package of sanctions, 20.05.2025].
The first package was in December, we've had two more since then. And our great High Representative [for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and chair of the Foreign Affairs Council Kaja Kallas] lauded these sanctions under the guide when she said, and she sternly vowed, that “those who enable Russia face severe consequences”.
[Cf. “This round of sanctions on Russia is the most wide-sweeping since the start of the war, together with new hybrid, human rights, and chemical weapons-related sanctions. In this 17th package, we include Surgutneftegas - a Russian oil giant - as well as almost 200 vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet. While Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia’s actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences. The longer Russia persists with its illegal and brutal war, the tougher our response will be.”So, the EU foreign ministers brought in a list of sanctions on 21 individuals and 6 entities who were responsible for ‘hybrid activity’ including disinformation [cf. Council of the EU, Russian hybrid threats: EU lists further 21 individuals and 6 entities and introduces sectoral measures in response to destabilising activities against the EU, its member states and international partners, 20 May 2025, 14:10].
Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and chair of the Foreign Affairs Council]
Now, what was this disinformation and who were these people?
Well, this is where it gets interesting, because this is Russian disinformation. Now, a few of them were actually Russians, but there was also a German blogger, an EU citizen, who was sanctioned. And there was a Turkish citizen who was a valid EU resident who was also sanctioned. He lives in Germany.
And let's look at this case for a minute —and I hope I'm not labouring it, but we have time here and we have to use it to really spell out what is going on in this so-called European Union of ‘Democracy in action’, as we took our pictures outside, this sign outside of here.
Because, in that case, we have a person who's been subjected to an asset freeze and a travel ban on the basis that he was systematically spreading information which the EU said was false.
Now, we don't know what that information was, because nobody got to see it. But they said he disseminated the narratives of Hamas, but again, what narratives they were, we don't know.
They said he created discord and that he provided pro-Palestinian protesters, who are described as anti-Israel rioters, with an exclusive media platform. Now, think about this.
This sounds like the type of action that millions of European Union citizens agree with, trying to force their governments to end complicity with the genocide in Gaza.
In fact, many people believe there should be a lot more discord created in Europe to deal with this.
But even if you don't agree with that, you have to ask yourself the question, how in God's name is any of this linked with Russia? That's a tough one to sort of. Well, I'll tell you the answer to that one, because they have it.
Seemingly, pro-Palestinian action undermines the stability and security of the European Union, or one or more of its member states. And sure, that's what the Russians are all about. We all know that.
So, therefore, pro-Palestinian activity is supporting Russia and you can be sanctioned.
Now, I'm not being flippant about this. This is the actual reality of this. I don't know the facts of the case. Nobody does because it hasn't been published.
But what it looks like is a person who was involved, nothing to do with Russia, who was documenting German police crackdown on Palestinian protests and in retaliation, the German authorities slapped them with an EU sanction.
And if it can happen to them today, it can happen to you tomorrow.
It is almost unbelievable, but you have to get on that page to realize the seriousness of what is at stake here.
Now, in democracies, we're supposed to have a rule of law, don't we? God almighty, you hear about it off and on in this place. You think it was their bread and butter, but that means, if you want to punish somebody, you have to charge them with a crime. That crime has to be defined in law. Once you charge them, due process has to come in. They have the right to know the charges against them. They have a right to see the evidence. They have a right to a trial in an open court, a right to defend themselves, a right to free speech that they can use there. And then the state can only impose a sanction when they've carefully considered all of those things beyond reasonable doubt. Not anymore.
That's gone now.
Depriving people of their rights based on rumours and innuendo is exactly what these hybrid sanction packages are about. It's as simple as that.
I wouldn't normally be in the habit of quoting Politico, but you're lucky, we'll break a habit soon as we're here.
When they even saw some of the dossiers and they said one of the packets that had somebody sanctioned was 10 open-source links with varying degrees of reliability. Another was nine, another was four. Articles in publications like The Financial Times and Reuters were heavily relied on, badly translated, probably AI translated articles from Russian and Ukrainian sources.
One was a lifestyle magazine affiliated with the Russian government, but it generally talked about cookery rather than actually news and all this sort of stuff. There was even a woman who was sanctioned for performing a concert in Crimea. I kid you not.
I mean, this wouldn't pass muster in a classroom, not to mind a courtroom, but this is what's been talked about as evidence in the European Union, evidence of Russian interference, no oversight.
Civil servants draw up a list, which is on the advice of the commission and member states, and then, 27 EU foreign ministers go behind a closed door and vote to sanction you or not.
And if you're targeted by an EU sanction, you don't hear the charges against you. You don't get a trial. You don't get a right to defence. You basically… the first thing you find out about this is a letter coming in your door telling you that your bank accounts have been frozen and that you're banned from entering or leaving the country.
And the guy who was sanctioned in Germany [en fait. il fut question de 3 : Alina Lipp, Thomas Röper et Hüseyin Doğru, fondateur de red. media], I'm just going to briefly read his account of that, because sometimes we bandy words around here about things like sanctions and they seem a bit depersonalized.
Well, what does that actually mean to a real person?
Well, this guy explained it and he said [Cf. Hüseyin Doğru, Berlin-based journalist, he reported on Palestine through his media outlet Red., until he was forced to shut it down. On May 20, 2025, the EU sanctioned Doğru for what it called his outlet’s links to Russia. But he says it’s because of his coverage of Palestine],
"I haven't been charged with anything. I haven't stood trial. I haven't been found guilty of any crime. I've no chance to defend myself, but the EU sanctioned me for my pro-Palestinian journalism and stripped me of my rights. I'm not allowed to buy food. I'm not allowed to buy medicine for my children. I'm not allowed to pay for my lawyer. I'm not allowed to leave the country I live in. I'm not allowed to enter the country I live in. I'm not allowed to get a job. I'm not allowed to make payments. I'm not allowed to receive payments. I'm not allowed to pay my rent. Every single time for every single case, I have to submit a file and ask permission. And then, I have to wait several days for approval.”And in case any of you are feeling a bit sorry for him and think that you might send him a few bob just to help him out, well, I'd be very careful about that, because you too could then be sanctioned for the crime of circumventing a sanction from the European Union and you could find yourself on a sanctioned list as well.
Cf. Alan MacLeod (Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News), Facing prison time in Germany for criticizing an Israeli journalist: The case of Hüseyin Doğru, 18.05.2025.
Now, this kind of sounds like ‘tin pot’ sort of stuff, but this is democracy now in the European Union and it is the new repression as Ondřej calls it because we have ‘hybrid sanctions’ against EU citizens for exercising the very rights that Michael McGrath audited in these place buildings a number of weeks ago ‘has been enshrined in our constitutions here’.
So, what we see is —in their so-called battle between democracy and authoritarianism—, the European Union is becoming incredibly authoritarian in their actions. It is an absolute abomination.
And every foreign minister who sat in that room and voted for those sanctions should be called to account by the members in this house.
And I really would urge MEPs who are here present to contact Michael McGrath and to make that point.
There really has to be a concerted effort —and we'll probably deal with it in the Q&A in a minute, and I know because I was there before him in the previous committee, I'd imagine life is very difficult for Fidias on the European Democracy Shield Committee—, but this has to be made, an issue there.
It has to be made an issue in the Civil Liberties Committee [LIBE].
And I really think members here should coordinate their work in that in terms of how it's going to be raised over the next period.
I think there's also a need for a really serious joint effort for members to take legal advice and to look into whether this is something that could be taken to the court of justice on the basis to the general threat to all EU citizens rights which exist from this.
Now, obviously, the problem with that is impunity —there's limits to what procedural challenges can achieve—, but if there's no push back on this, which is why this meeting is so important, then they're going to go further. There has to be broad political support built to challenge what's happening here.
You got to go from this and organize in your home countries to talk about this.
You've got to speak in your communities and tell people what's going on.
And that it's a threat to them and it's going to get worse.
Honestly, there is really a very small window left to do anything and it's crucial that we organize to do something before that window closes.
So, in conclusion, this is not just about speech. It's really about the fundamental right of expression, the most fundamental right we have, and tool we have, as citizens.
We have to be able to challenge our governments to change their policies.
But that's what's in the firing line now from all of this stuff. You mightn't care about whether someone was silenced for pro pro-Palestinian speech or whatever. That's not really important. You don't have to agree with the issues there, but you have to recognize the danger of what's going on here.
Because if it's them today, it's you tomorrow.
And tomorrow is already here.
When I was on the INGE committee for those three years, every single thing they didn't like, they called it Russian interference or Chinese interference or Iranian interference, didn't matter who it was.
So, it was anything.
Catalan independence movement, Russian interference.
The peace movement, Russian interference.
Eurocritical politics, you name it whatever it was, that's the name of the game here.
So, if you care about the ability to do opposition politics in Europe, you have to care about this issue.
And that's what this meeting here is about. It's a platform to begin to expose that. Because the first task in changing something is understanding that it's broken and giving information about that. And that's what we're doing here. And that's why this is important.
But it's not enough on its own. We've got to go from here, get the message out and organize for the right to hold our governments and our leadership into account and not be conned by the spurious ideas that what's happening in our societies, and the very valid criticisms that our citizens have, is somehow the product of infiltration from out, out external sources.
So, I leave you with that. Let's go out there and take them on because literally our right to survive is at stake here.
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