Renew Europe strongly condemns Russia’s continuous efforts to undermine European democracy and spur divisions among European citizens by recruiting MEPs as influence agents, as shown by recent reports. 

Following a request by the Group, MEPs adopted a resolution noting their deep concern about the Kremlin’s efforts to create a system of dependencies by European political parties, who then act as amplifiers of Russian propaganda. 

Renew Europe calls on EU Member States to further develop and fine-tune the sanction packages against Russia, while closing the loopholes in the enforcement of the restrictive measures currently in force.  

It is also imperative for the European Parliament to immediately conduct a thorough internal investigation to assess all possible cases of foreign interference from Russia and internal misbehaviour. 

"Putin does not only threaten the EU with bombs at our gates but also attempts to blow up our democracy from the inside though interference,” said Adrián Vázquez Lázara MEP (Ciudadanos, ES), Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs.

Hoy aprobamos en el Parlamento Europeo una resolución importantísima sobre la injerencia democrática de Putin en la UE.

Se denuncia y se pide investigar a eurodiputados por sus vínculos con el Kremlin. Puigdemont y la causa separatista catalana quedan señalados a ojos de toda… pic.twitter.com/PAYKboGf04

— Adrián Vázquez Lázara 🇪🇦🇪🇺 (@AdrianVL1982) February 8, 2024

“It happened with Brexit, it also happened in other separatist attempts like in Catalonia, and it is happening in Brussels now. After media and judicial implications, this needs to be thoroughly investigated. And we will ask for names and explanations.” 

Nathalie Loiseau MEP (Horizons, FR), Chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defence, added: “After Qatargate, the far-right and far-left parties tried to put an end to the Special Committee on Foreign Interference, to make us focus only on the Qatar-related scandal and avoid any mention about Russian interference. But their plan never succeeded. 

“We urgently need to enhance security culture within the European Parliament, to reform our rules on transparency, integrity, accountability and anti-corruption. Russian interference is a weapon of mass destruction of our democracy.”

🛑 Russian interference in the @Europarl_EN or any of our European democracies is totally unacceptable!

🗳️It is shocking that far- right & far - left MEPs risk all of our security by voting against plans to tackle it.

🧐What do they have to hide? #DefendDemocracy #Russiagate pic.twitter.com/PvqpeA5gcW

— Renew Europe (@RenewEurope) February 8, 2024