Free and fair #Elections: Second meeting of European elections network

The European elections co-operation network has met for the second time to further discuss how to best protect elections from current threats. The meeting focused on the monitoring and enforcement of electoral campaign rules, in particular on data protection and on the transparency of online electoral campaigns and their funding.

Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Commissioner Věra Jourová said: "We have learnt the lessons from recent months and years - our elections are the target of cyberattacks, misuse of data, disinformation and meddling from foreign actors. The priority for EU governments should be now to set up proper structures to deal with the risks and take measures to protect the electoral and make sure citizens are well informed."

The meeting will focus on the following issues, among others: 1/ discuss the results of the mapping on electoral campaign and spending rules; 2/ engage with Europol on the monitoring and cooperation between authorities in the electoral context; 3/ monitoring and enforcing electoral campaign, disinformation and hate speech related rules; 4/ look into national approaches ensuring transparency of social media providers.

The election network was one of the concrete actions from the free and fair European elections package proposed by President Juncker in his 2018 State of the Union address. Other measures and recommendations of this package were endorsed by the Council in its conclusions of 19 February. Member states will also prepare for the practical test on cyber preparedness ahead of the upcoming European elections, where they will discuss simulated incident scenarios. The network brings together Member State representatives, Commission and the European External Action Service experts. All information on the European elections network and the agenda of this meeting is available here.

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