Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield Joint meeting
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EUDS European Parliament
Ihren Sitzungen folgenRedner 5
We did it alongside the European Union. We did alongside our strategic partners, that allowed us to move on and to overcome challenges that very few people believe Moldova is capable of overcoming. And what's most important, Kremlin didn't believe Moldova is capable of overcoming. What precisely did we do in this regard? For the first time after many years, Moldova consolidated its national security strategy.
It's for the first time in Moldovan history when we named Russia as the main security threat for The Republic Of Moldova in the strategy, and we created a unified consolidated approach towards the security in The Republic Of Moldova, starting with the legislative approach, finishing with modernizing the institution, budgetary allocation. For example, as a part of countering hybrid threats, now we have a Stratcom institution looking into the way Russia delivers its hybrid attacks and informational warfare in The Republic Of Moldova. For the first time starting last year, we have an integrated crisis management center in The Republic of Moldova, also looking at an integrated approach to combating security challenges addressing The Republic of Moldova. Another element of our strong commitment is related to financing national security. Several days ago, we listened to the Minister of Defense in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
In the past several years, we more than doubled the budget for defense. We, together with the European Union, with the European peace facility, managed to have renewed dotations and infrastructure from the military of the Republic of Moldova. But going beyond that, we modernized our cyber infrastructure. We have a cyber center looking into the cyber threats that Moldova is facing. Moreover, in the relations with the European Union, here, I want to thank the European Parliament.
For the first time, we have signed a common partnership for defense that Moldova is the first country in the world to sign this kind of partnership with the European Union, and we are looking forward to making the most out of it in the upcoming years. Thank you for all the assistance on hybrid threats, fighting hybrid threats. It was essential, the speed that we move together in terms of improving our IT infrastructure, in terms of delivering and having the expertise we needed and we lacked, and what is most important, having and feeling that there is someone to support us in this unequal fight that we have. Now looking backwards, we had three electoral cycles where Moldovan citizens reaffirmed its support for the European path against major interventions and major efforts to influence and to steer in a different direction Moldovan path. We faced were faced with efforts of election buying, of election interference.
We were faced with direct threats of cyberattacks against the Moldovan critical infrastructure. And at this point, we still have a lot of work to do, and we still rely on the European Parliament and European Union to fight that. But now we are at the point where we can contribute. We can contribute to the discussion. We can contribute to the policy.
We can contribute to our common effort on building resilience and capabilities as part of the European Union against hybrid threats because those are not gonna go away. We should not fool ourselves. So in the further discussion, either it's SAFE or on other European programs, we are ready to stand alongside you to contribute to having them as profound and as prepared and as relevant to the discussion as it possibly can. Thank you very much. Alongside the debate, my colleagues will intervene as well.
Redner 2
Thank you very much, Mr. Balotir. And I now give the floor to Mr. Sven Mixer. Mister Mixer is the Affit standing rapporteur and also coordinator for the S and D when it comes to the SELE committee.
Redner 10
Thank you. Thank you, chair. Indeed, as for Moldova, it is, I I've already had a chance, a pleasant chance of meeting our friends and colleagues on three previous occasions today. So now I'm appearing in my other incarnation as the S and P said a coordinator also. But I think this is an extremely important topic, and we have all been enormously impressed by the resilience of the Moldoan state and society have demonstrated during these three election cycles because indeed the scale and scope of the Russian interference operation has been quite unique.
Redner 11
But it's not totally unprecedented, as we all know. We've seen Russian attempts to interfere in our democratic processes all over the European Union and beyond, well beyond the European Union, over many years. And indeed, I will say that the resilience starts with actually situational awareness, with being aware of the existence of the threat. And we've come a very long way. I would suggest that had we or had our British friends known the scope of Russian interference and operation ahead of the Brexit vote, we might be living in a slightly different European Union today, all of us.
Redner 12
But I think that our Molivin friends have demonstrated a very good ability to adapt to this situation. And we've seen, I think, the significant improvement with regard to the degree of resilience to those threats from election to election. We shouldn't expect this threat to disappear anytime soon. So I think that we will have to be ready to work together in order to identify the threat, to actually eliminate the threat when possible, to neutralize the threat when necessary, but also with regard to building more resilience into our systems, into our state and government structures, but most importantly, into our societies because it's also important to reduce the vulnerability when it comes to the segments of the society who are particularly receptive or particularly vulnerable to these interference operations. And I think that as Moldova has been an exemplary candid country in very many regards, it also applies to the ability to fight malign foreign interference and influence operations.
And, but, obviously, this is no time to lay on laurels. We need to keep moving ahead and need to keep fighting.
Redner 30
We'll continue with the coordinator representing other political groups, I should say. Starting with the, perhaps, the EPP group.
Redner 14
For this meeting, first of all, I would like to thank Moldova for its absolutely clear and sincere support for Ukraine, for your understanding that this is our existential war for the future of our common European continent. Moldova was a country that took in perhaps the largest number of refugees per capita since the war began. Moldova did not hesitate to join the EU sanctions against Russia. It is a true pleasure to welcome the delegation of the parliament of the Republic of Moldova here today, in a space defined not only by dialogue but by our shared responsibility for Europe's future. Moldova has become an example of resistance to Russia's hybrid war against states for us here as well.
No country is immune from what Moldova is experiencing. Unfortunately, as a Georgian standing rapporteur, I have to say that Georgia, unlike Moldova, is the opposite and successful example and became a capture state. Now Armenia, which is experiencing very similar attempts to keep this country as a colony under the influence of the Russian empire, is trying to use Moldova experience to resist. I would like the EU states, its institutions, and its citizens to be as resistant to external influences as Moldova did. In a profoundly changing security environment, the Republic of Moldova is increasingly seen as a contributor to our common security and stability.
Redner 22
By strengthening its resilience, whether in the field of energy security or advancing defense reforms, Moldova demonstrates that its path towards the European Union is, in essence, a process of mutual reinforcement. In this regard, I would like to thank the EU Partnership Mission in Moldova. Concrete progress has been made. Our partnership in security and defense is becoming even more tangible from the support provided through European instruments. In this regard, the role of the parliament is essential.
Redner 18
The parliament of the Republic of Moldova has been instrumental in advancing key reforms. I want to urge the EU member states, which do not yet have sufficient understanding, that the enlargement of the EU, especially to countries that are also on our watch, is not only in the interest of these countries, but also of the entire EU. The need we need Moldova just as Moldova needs us, like we need Ukraine just as Ukraine needs us. This is a win-win process. We cannot delay.
In times like this, resilience is no longer a technical concept. It is a political choice. And the Republic of Moldova proves day by day that it belongs to this European space. The more democratic space in Europe, the more security, the fewer gray zones of security, the less cost for possible new wars. Good luck, Moldova.
Redner 15
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to see you here today, and we're really happy to have good cooperation with you. And I think you're right. We can learn from you as well. But let me start by asking so we can learn, you know, what has been the most important part of the help that you have been given from EU?
Redner 16
Which one of the things we did was the best or worked the best? And the second part is that if you should advise us because we also have a lot of elections, on a monthly basis in EU member states. And we are also inside the European Union, faced with challenges from foreign interference. What do you think we should do? First, on an individual level, what can citizens of the EU do to protect themselves or be more resilient?
Redner 15
Secondly, what can we do at a more systemic level to make our electoral processes more resilient? I think that could be very useful. But we're really happy to see you here, and I am really happy also to see a continued cooperation between Moldova and EU. Thank you very much.
Thank.
Redner 24
thank you very much. I wanted to thank you for being here with us today. We were very much looking forward to meeting our Moldovan counterparts here in the European Parliament, and I wanted to take this opportunity to say a few words. I mean, this committee is a committee that addresses these matters here and in effort. We've talked a lot about foreign influence in elections, and we've talked about the Orthodox Church in particular.
In fact, recently, I had an exchange with representatives from Armenia who said pretty much the same thing, and they're very worried. They're very concerned. They're worried about the Kremlin, the path that it has adopted, influence over the church as well. And in fact, in this committee, we had a hearing, and we heard from observers who have been observing the situation in Moldova, and they said pretty much the same thing. So I wanted to ask you, what's the current state of play when it comes to the church in particular?
How is the church being used for purposes of, you know, manipulation, if you like? I understand that the situation is delicate, is difficult. It's also difficult to achieve a good balance. I mean, freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, everybody has freedom of religion, freedom of faith, of course, but you do need to be careful about this. You don't want the church to be instrumentalized as a kind of state actor acting on behalf of a foreign state.
So what's your observation on that?
Thank.
Redner 17
Thank you very much to mister Terhesh. Next speaker from the Greens, Missus Gies.
Alexandra Geese
Thank you very much, Chair, and a very warm welcome to the colleagues from Moldavia. I would also be here. Also reiterate the wish to see you soon here as full members of the house, engaging with you on European policy. I would also like to say how much I welcome that your democracy had this enormous victory in front of vis a vis, this really harsh and dangerous attack in terms of foreign interference, the hybrid threats. So I would like to ask you also what can we learn from that.
I know there has been a lot of support, but I think you have a lot of learning you could share with us. You talked about your IT infrastructure. But I think there's a lot to learn also about the narratives, this kind of disinformation campaign uses, and how you countered it because we experience exactly the same campaign. The scale is different, but the strategy, the quality, is the same. So if you could speak a little bit about that, I would be very, very interested.
The second question is what was the role of social media platforms in this, because this is where we experience this most? Because we all know that the algorithms tend to disseminate these kinds of disinformation and narratives tapping into grievances and giving someone the fault a lot more than any kind of fact that a government or normal people or journalists, independent media can produce. The third question is how do you experience the change of the US government? I mean, you have worked with the Biden government, and now, you have had these elections during the Trump government, the Trump administration. What was your experience with that?
Thank you very much.
Thank.
Redner 5
Five minutes. I'll try to be as brief, concise, and direct to the point as possible, but also, my colleagues,
Redner 5
Part of the help. In terms of security and defense, by far, it's CPF. It's €200,000,000 allocated for the modernization of the Moldovan army. That was really felt in terms of the infrastructure that our military operate with. It was really felt on the morale of the army that we have, and the image the army has, and that was felt.
UPM, in terms of securing elections, improving the cybersecurity situation, transferring the expertise in broad in the security area, not only targeted to defense, but broader security, energy security, informational security, cybersecurity. And this, UPM indeed delivered. And what's most important for these two elements is that the speed at which it was achieved through UPM and European peace facility was staggering. It's been four years, in which this 200,000,000 were delivered to the Republic of Moldova in terms of assistance, expertise, technique, and also EuPM was set in a record time, which is also a good element. On what works the most, beside the concrete specific assistance targeted to security, defense, and fighting hybrid threats, I cannot leave aside general support of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova because the European Union was alongside the Republic of Moldova when Russia started our energy crisis in the Republic of Moldova.
People felt, people knew, knowing Moldova that it was EU and our international partners who stood along and helped us provide compensations in the bills for the people to survive more than tenfold increase and the eightfold increase in the cost of living. In Moldova, people know that a lot of kindergartens, a lot of schools, a lot of social facilities, you would see an EU sign with EU assistance. And that not an assistance directly related to resilience, security, and defense, but that was an assistance that helped Moldovan citizens and helped them understand where they should aim for, as a geopolitical choice, as a civilizational choice, and that helped to combat the narrative that Russia is promoting in Moldova. That the EU is bad. That the EU did nothing to Moldova.
We reach a point where the EU support is so substantial in the Republic of Moldova that it cannot be denied even by the Russian propaganda. And that is an important element. And now, with the growth plan, we are following the same track. We want to make an effort to communicate on that. We'll make an effort for everyone to know who is driving Moldovan development and who is supporting us on this path.
Next, what can people do to be more resilient? Civil society in Moldova helped a lot in talking, in promoting the idea of hybrid threats, on how you spot an informational warfare, how you spot a campaign designed to disinform. So one thing I would emphasize always is education. It helped a lot, and it helped when it was done not only with the hands of the government but involved third party civil society, private sector people who want to get on board to support fighting this hybrid war. On the more systemic level, I would say one thing that we did in the midst of the crisis is that we did not approach things in it was not a systemic approach towards, let's do everything all at once.
We just pick out the most vulnerable elements in the security matrix, and we intervene. It was cybersecurity. It was not all the institutions. It was the institutions that mattered that we addressed. When it was the legislative changes, it was important to have a national security strategy, but it was three years until we got to a new document of national security strategy.
But before that, it was punctual interventions in the areas that we knew would be most targeted by Russia. So the systemic level is important, but when you are under attack, you pinpoint the areas which are of most importance or where that bear the most pressure, and you address them. On the usage of churches, very short. Usage of churches was not used in terms of a religious debate, were used in terms of the protection that priests had, and they were used as transport for money from Russia. That's one thing.
Second element was that we had a lot of documentation in the public, and that's publicly available of priests during service telling people whom they should vote for, what EU is or what EU is not. The only thing we ask, and we ask it publicly, is that we want church to be about religion, and about people relations with God and with their beliefs, and to be out of politics. We currently have, I would say, a very productive dialogue with both churches in the Republic of Moldova, Bessarabian Moldovan church. We are ready to dialogue. There were no pressure of any kind from the government to the churches.
We just will not tolerate when any person with some sort of immunity or special status is used to transport money. And that was the most grave element that we witnessed in this process. On narratives, how do we combat it? Also, one element that happened quite fast was the establishment of the Stratcom Center in the Republic of Moldova. And before combating what Stratcom did, it was helpful to understand what are the areas of interventions and how Russia intervene and shape their narratives.
And that was one advice that I can give to everyone before combating, let's understand how it is functioning, how you start getting the discussions about religion, how the EU is targeting the discussions about national identity, how it's steering a debate on loving your country to an extreme nationalism, or how it's targeting the diversity towards the discussion that someone needs to be excluded from the debate or from the society. So that's what they're doing. And before we build campaigns, we need to understand what to build these campaigns for, or what we are fighting with these campaigns. From social media platforms, it was, in time, a very various response. Sometimes they were very responsive.
There were times when they were not responsive at all. So it was varied, and it's related to most of the platforms. Generally, regardless of the response, the disinformation on social networks happens so fast that even when the most responsive reaction came, the information was already out there. So it here, we are ready to be part of the discussions at the European level on that, but it's, it needs to we need to change the approach how we target that. Because even if it's twelve hours before you get a response, it's already out there.
On the US government, I will only say that we have a stable and good relation. United States just announced that they will support building Moldovan Romanian electrical connections, Trashank Utinash, which is the second biggest or most important electricity line. On our side, in Moldovan parliament, we registered recently law initiatives on abolishing taxes for import of Moldovan or American goods, out to abolish taxes for imports for Moldovan goods for American goods, sorry. We hope that this will create a political opportunity to further discuss our trade policy with the United States. And we being a small country, we try to have as predictable and as strong relations as far as possible with the US administration right now.
Redner 27
Thank you very much. Maybe the delegation, somebody wants to add it. Please take the floor.
Redner 26
Mister Adrian Kaptonar, he's the deputy chair of the Security and Defense Committee.
That sounds very good. Please.
Redner 28
Thank you, Adrian, for your introduction. Indeed, besides being a parliamentarian, today I am a former counterintelligence officer in my country. So, speaking about matters of security and what Moldova did to fight Russian espionage and meddling in internal affairs are things that I understand pretty well. Adrian gave a very technically detailed answer to all your questions, and possibly my answer will be a little bit more philosophical than his approach. First of all, what is important for politicians, for men of their states all over Europe, is to understand, first of all, that we have to not be afraid of Russia.
Redner 29
When you are afraid of Russia, you already lost the battle. Moldova is very small. We are not the richest country on the European continent. You may know this. But we decided not to be afraid when Russia confronted us.
Redner 28
We fight it back. We improved legislation in the parliament. We enforced our institution, and we told our officers to fight, not to be afraid, to prove what Russia does, to bring information and intelligence to the government decision makers in order for them to take the right decisions based on evidence and not on suppositions. We and it is very important also to emphasize the support of the European Union to us. With everything that you did for us, you really European Union really helped us.
When Russia tried to defeat Moldovan mines by raising the cost for energy for every household. EU supported us financially, and we could diminish the impact of growing prices. And people felt that the government can be believed because it did its best. It strived to help the people. You helped us with cyber, with a lot of domains.
It would be too long to enumerate every single day of them. For this, I want to express on behalf of the Moldovan people the support to all the EU countries for the European Union as a transnational entity. And you have to know that Moldovan people believe in the European Union, and we are Europeans. Thank you.
Redner 5
Thank you, other colleagues. Mister Vartanian, Mister Gaye Vartanian is a representative of opposition. And one thing before giving the word, I just want to mention, we are here a cross-party delegation, which is very important for our effort to bring everyone alongside the debate on European integration and discussion with Moldova about European integration. Kai, you have the floor.
Redner 31
Thank you, and thank you for having us here. Once again, thank you from Moldova in part for all the support that you're doing, and all the parties support all the groups of the European Parliament. I want to start very shortly. Probably you all know about the numbers in the Malignan Parliament, but you have to know that there are 75 out of 101 parliamentaries in Moldova today that came, that went on the parliament elections with pro European messages. That means about 75% of the people, 70% of the people in Moldova already vote for European Union on European integration.
Redner 32
That means having the fact that a ruling party has 55 out of 101, which is an absolute majority, absolute power, and having the absolute support from the European Parliament, European Union, which is great. I mean, nothing hinders Moldova to go fast on the reforms and come to the point that when we can sign the agreement. I don't undermine and don't say that Russian influence and Russian propaganda and everything that we were speaking today about the hybrid war is stopped or is gonna stop. But from the last elections, when an absolute majority of people, 75%, didn't look at the Russian propaganda, that means it doesn't quite work anymore in Moldova. And the only reason why Moldova can be slow in the next pass for the accession is basically actions, nonactions, efficiency, or non efficiency of current government.
Redner 33
We all have to understand that. In the meantime, we have about 3,360, 400, 380 laws that have to be passed by the end of the year. It's an enormous work. Me and there's the three of us from the commission on the committee on the European integration. I mean, we will do everything possible and opposition pro European opposition votes most of the laws with EU stamp.
Redner 38
In the meantime, you have to understand that the ruling party came to power in these elections with basically a single slogan that in 2028, Moldova will sign the accession agreement. If we don't open political negotiations by the end of this year, I don't think this slogan will become truce. So I believe one of the tasks, one of the homeworks for the European Commission and the parliament is to make sure everything, make everything possible that the negotiations will start. That's the first thing that we need to do together. 99% of the work that Moldova has to do by themselves.
Redner 35
Homework is ours. The job is ours to be prepared, to make the reforms, to adopt laws fast but very quality. But in the meantime, we need several steps from the European Union. First of all, is the opening accession. Second of all, is Transnistria.
Redner 31
Transnistria case should be somehow on the agenda because we don't want to wake up before they sign an agreement, and EU Commission will tell us we have to solve the transition case first and then you enter EU. That may end up that we will wait for 5, 10, 20 years. And, hopefully, the transition case can be pushed by the European Union so the Moldavian government will come up with a viable solution. And the third thing that we already talked about in the previous, and Mr. Murishan said that about the eventually, if we and when we hopefully do our homework and be prepared as far as the laws and the chapter as in negotiations, at some point of time, even though we're a candidate because of Ukraine, but sooner or later, we have to think how to decouple us from the Ukrainian case and be able to find a way if Ukraine is behind us on the negotiations.
I'm not saying anything about the war. Hopefully, war will stop as soon as possible. That Moldova can go on a faster track if we are prepared and if we did our homework a little bit faster than Ukraine. Those are the three things, in my opinion and opinion of my colleagues from our positions, that needs to be done in order for us to succeed in this succession period. Thank you.
Redner 5
Thank you very much, merci Fros. Thank you. Just my last 10 seconds. Thank you for the opportunity to address the questions. I would say in order to help us to build resilience, we are now so much integrated in EU dialogue, in EU structures, in EU program.
We'll continue doing that. But one thing that can happen and which I'm already grateful for, is for the inclusion of the Republic of Moldova in the dialogue on the EU programs. So from now on, my only kind ask would be to continue to keep Moldova on board for the discussion on MFF, on national on new security strategy, on other programs that might touch up on Moldova that help us have to have some previsibility to prepare ourselves as well and to integrate ourselves as better and as effective as we can on our side to contribute as well with our experience and expertise. Thank you very much once again to be able to contribute to the debate.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann
I say thank you, very much for coming to Brussels. All of you, we support you. We stand with you. We are looking forward to further increasing cooperation on your path to membership of Moldova to the European Union. We are a big family.
It's not easy always in a big family. You can imagine. So it's very important that we grow with really good friends and look forward. And what we could do, we will do. So, yes, enjoy this day.
I mean, it's sunny. It's always sunny in Brazil. Just for you to know, when you're a member of the European Parliament, you will see. And thank you very much for your time and your interest. Thank you.
Redner 34
Would like to thank our colleagues from Moldova who have joined in this exchange of views today. And, we're on different parliaments, but we're up against the same threats, and we share the same values. And that means we're natural partners. And, our colleague from the EBP, as he says, Europe needs Moldova. Moldova needs Europe.
Thank you.
We are leaving, and you continue.
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