Is Information Warfare Breaching the European Parliament? IES Policy Brief Issue 2016/12• May 2016

Nestoras, Antonios (2016) Is Information Warfare Breaching the European Parliament? IES Policy Brief Issue 2016/12• May 2016. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The success of populist parties in the 2014 elections for the European Parliament suggests that pro-Russian narratives are working their way into the institutional corridors of the EU. This policy brief will attempt to identify these narratives expressed by MEPs from the European National Front (ENF), European United Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) and Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) groups inside the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). Their general voting behaviour has been studied elsewhere.1 Here, this general pattern will be re-examined with additional emphasis on specific narratives delivered during the procedure of tabling amendments to a number of Russia-related parliamentary reports voted in AFET. The analysis of these parliamentary amendments provides additional evidence to substantiate the claim that European populism demonstrates a remarkably coherent pro-Russian stance, which includes positions propagated by Russian information warfare.

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