ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen welcomes the recent European Commission Communication entitled ‘Tackling COVID-19 disinformation – getting the facts right’ issued by European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner Věra Jourová on 10 June.

In her presentation last week, Commissioner Jourová underlined how the recent COVID-19 crisis has led to a surge in disinformation activities, which have harmed not only our health but also our democracies.

ALDE President van Baalen supports Commissioner Jourová’s plea by saying:

“I support Commissioner of Values and Transparency Věra Jourová and High Representative Josep Borrell in the fight against fake news. We, as Europeans, must act together to safeguard our access to rightful information and transparency.

The COVID-19 pandemic shows that countries like Russia and China misuse their influence spreading disinformation that costs lives of innocent people world-wide. They disrupt the public debate and their misleading news campaigns undermine our democracies.

We need to work together in order to prevent others who misuse the EU for their personal propaganda. I stand by Commissioner Jourová that we must regulate disinformation before it will regulate us!”