RESOLUTION

on strengthening democratic processes: the role of political parties, civil society, a fair electoral environment, and free and pluralistic media

(2021/C 361/01)

THE EURONEST PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

— having regard to the Constituent Act of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly of 3 May 2011,

— having regard to the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit held in Brussels on 24 November 2017, as well as to its previous declarations,

— having regard to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly resolution of 3 April 2012 on strengthening civil society in the Eastern Partnership Countries, including the question of cooperation between government and civil society, and the question of the reforms aimed at empowering civil society,

— having regard to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly resolution of 1 November 2017 on ensuring media freedom and integrity in the EU and Eastern European partners,

— having regard to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly resolution of 19 December 2019 on parliamentary oversight as a tool to strengthen democracy, accountability and effectiveness of state institutions in the Eastern Partner countries,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 23 March 2006 on European political parties,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 6 April 2011 on the application of Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 4 July 2013 on improving the practical arrangements for the holding of the European elections in 2014,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 11 November 2015 on the reform of the electoral law of the European Union,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 25 October 2016 with recommendations to the Commission on the establishment of an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 21 May 2013 on the EU Charter: standard settings for media freedom across the EU,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 3 May 2018 on media pluralism and media freedom in the European Union,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 10 October 2019 on foreign electoral interference and disinformation in national and European democratic processes,

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 19 April 2018 on the need to establish a European Values Instrument to support civil society organisations which promote fundamental values within the European Union at local and national level,

— having regard to the European Parliament recommendation of 19 June 2020 to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the Eastern Partnership, in the run-up to the June 2020 Summit,

— having regard to the Commission and High Representative Joint Staff Working Document of 9 June 2017 on ‘Eastern Partnership – 20 Deliverables for 2020: Focusing on key priorities and tangible results’, and their Joint Communication of 18 March 2020 on ‘Reinforcing Resilience – an Eastern Partnership that delivers for all’,

— having regard to the Council conclusions of 11 May 2020 on Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020,

— having regard to the European Parliament decision of 18 June 2020 on setting up a special committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, its responsibilities, numerical strength and term of office,

— having regard to the Association Agreements between the EU, of the one part, and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, of the other part,

— having regard to the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the EU, of the one part, and the Republic of Armenia, of the other part, which fully entered into force on 1 March, 2021,

— having regard to the relevant PACE Resolutions, including (2007) on the code of good practice for political parties, (2020) on threats to media freedom and journalists’ security, and (2020) on setting minimum standards for electoral systems in order to offer the basis for free and fair elections,

whereas strengthening democratic processes remains a key objective of cooperation between the EU and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries;

whereas democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are of great importance for the proper functioning of state institutions, political parties, civil society, and media at national and transnational level;

whereas in an attempt to resolve difficulties faced by democratic institutions, it is absolutely necessary to develop solutions to cope with future challenges resulting from the COVID19 pandemic crisis; highlights that all adopted measures should be clear, necessary and strictly proportionate, notably in view of the restrictions and limitations on fundamental freedoms that could have serious repercussions on political life, elections, civil society and the media;

whereas promoting and protecting equal rights and the right to political participation for all requires the development of inclusive and resilient societies where everyone’s voice is heard;

whereas the free and independent work of the opposition, civil society organisations and the media is a cornerstone of a democratic society based on the rule of law; whereas political parties, civil society, a fair electoral environment and free and pluralistic media are are essential components of the democratic process;

whereas making democratic values and principles more visible and strengthening accountability, transparency and access to information requires proper efforts to be made by the EU Member States and EaP countries, including their authorities at national, regional and local levels, as well as by institutions and agencies;

whereas strengthening the legislative capacity of the EaP countries to establish an effective model of financial transparency of political parties, solid rules for conducting election campaigns, as well as furthering the development of independent public media, and the involvement of civil society in democratic processes, are of crucial importance and should continue to be supported by the European Union and also respected by its Member States;

whereas maintaining the equilibrium of EaP countries’ and EU Member States’ political systems by means of proper checks and balances between different institutions, can strengthen the states’ ability to give an effective answer, through a reinforced international and European cooperation, including the exchange of best practices and methodologies, as none of our societies is immune to the current common challenges, such as pandemics, migration crises, disinformation, or illiberal tendencies;

whereas the deepening of cooperation between regional and international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations, should be reinforced in order to generate new synergies, prevent possible democratic deficits and tackle current and emerging challenges such as the COVID 19 pandemic;

whereas enhanced democratic participation – through political parties based on broad membership and clear political programmes, institutional mechanisms for involvement of civil society, independent and responsible media and stable electoral frameworks – can stimulate the implementation of even more bottom-up models of governance and improvement of its quality, strengthening the resilience of democratic institutions and processes, including against external interference;

whereas politically-motivated trials against opposition representatives which constitute a regrettably long-standing practice in some EaP countries puts into question the independence of the judiciary from political interference and thereby weakens the democratic process;

whereas strong financial dependence of some political parties in EaP countries from large industrial groups, or oligarchs highlights the need for more detailed legislation on membership fees, access to public funding and campaign financing to prevent money of corrupt criminal activities from influencing democratic processes;

whereas there are negative trends connected to the monopolisation of authority in some EU Member States, which give cause for concern with regard to maintaining and strengthening democratic institutions, the separation of powers, the application of the principle of checks and balances, the independence of the judiciary and the media, and the development of civil society;

whereas the fight against disinformation requires access to authoritative sources for up to date information and the promotion of reliable sources in order to reduce the visibility of false or misleading content and to remove harmful and illegal content;

whereas the Russian Federation is interfering in the democratic processes of the EU Member States and the EaP countries, either directly, or by using of proxies from business, media or political circles, thereby threatening the sovereignty, independence and security of those states;

whereas the Russian Federation is continuing blatant violations of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia, undermining the security, humanitarian and human rights situation and violating fundamental principles and norms of international law in Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, as well as in the illegally occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, city of Sevastopol and in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine;

condemning the continued occupation and the steps taken towards the de-facto annexation of Georgia’s regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, as well as the attempted annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the ongoing armed aggression by the Russian Federation in the east of Ukraine, calling international community to intensify efforts in order to restore Georgia’s and Ukraine’s sovereignty and their territorial integritywithin their internationally recognised borders;

whereas safeguarding freedom at home and building support for a foreign policy that protects fundamental values and rights abroad are essential to foster a better understanding of democratic principles by the public, especially among young people;

whereas the 9 August 2020 elections in Belarus have been defined by many Belarusian citizens and representatives of Belarusian civil society, as well as by international actors, as ‘stolen elections’;

whereas protests condemning the official results of the Belarus elections have been happening throughout the country;

The role of political parties

1. Notes that political parties play an important role at all levels of society – in so far as they aggregate interests and opinions, formulate political answers to political problems and social challenges and channel these into the political system via elected representatives – thereby promoting genuine participation of all citizens and nationalities living in a country on a regular basis, not only during the election period, but also in all other aspects of political life; stresses in this context that the volatility of the political environment in the majority of the EaP countries needs to be addressed by strengthening the role of political parties in order to consolidate democratic standards and build citizens’ confidence in state institutions and democratic processes;

2. Calls on national parliaments to strengthen independent and impartial judiciary, as well as to adopt legislation in favour of transparent party financing, in particular by establishing the legal responsibility of political parties for accepting donations from unknown or criminal sources or from sources that aim to distort and undermine democracy, advocate terrorism or inspire war and civil conflict, and by making it easier to identify paid political advertising and the organisation responsible for it; underlines that political corruption, destroys the trust of citizens in state institutions, elected representatives and political actors and will ultimately erode democratic checks and balances;

3. Urges political parties to continue increasing party-internal democracy and to adhere to the principle of gender equality, and encourages them to improve their diversity in order to better represent the societies they serve, for example by ensuring better representation of women and minorities on electoral lists and among elected members;

4. Calls on the national authorities to penalize vote-buying in all its forms, as well as the use of administrative resources in campaigning; Appropriate dissuasive sanctions should be put in place, including restricting the wrongdoer campaign’s access to state financing; Appropriate measures should be put in place to prevent hate-speech in all its forms, incitement to violence, fake news and misinformation for political gain;

5. Calls on national parliaments to adopt legislation on guaranteeing the rights of opposition parties and their political groups represented in parliament and in local councils, in order to monitor stated intentions and the activities undertaken by the executives; considers that to do so will contribute to achieving transparency in the decisions taken and will better the oversight over compliance with the rule of law and spending of public finances, which is of importance for ensuring the quality of political debate and of the public services provided by the government and will also help to ensure an appropriate role for the opposition, including its right to political expression of its views and positions;

6. Expresses its serious concern over cases of politically motivated judicial proceedings against leaders and members of opposition parties and those who do not agree with the position of the government in EaP countries; calls on governments to refrain from using their subordinate structures or such politically motivated judicial cases, and to implement the highest standards of the rule of law, in particular on judicial independence and the right to a fair trial;

7. Calls on all representatives of political parties to ensure the non-harassment of political actors by treating each other, including opponents, in a fair and respectful way and to safeguard freedom of expression, of association and of assembly, including the right to peaceful demonstration, in order to foster an issues-based political debate and enhance citizens’ trust in democratic processes;

8. Calls on the European Commission to offer technical support to strengthen parliamentary oversight in all EaP countries and EU Member States in order to reduce the existing gaps in effective response mechanisms;

9. Calls on the EaP countries’ authorities to create proper conditions for civil society, the middle classes and small and medium-sized business to be more involved in political affairs; recognises the importance of civil oversight over the adherence and implementation of democratic principles and values, and for finding and reporting of corrupt practices, frauds and conflict of interest in order to reduce the role of oligarchs in political life; calls on political parties to prioritize their work on developing comprehensive political programmes and representing broad interests of society as a whole;

10. Encourages all political parties to engage in the creation of new forms of multipartyism and cooperation to define strategic objectives for their country and the region; stresses that the diversity of political ideologies and opinions is crucial for the proper functioning of a parliament that represents and works for all its citizens;

11. Calls on the political parties to work on clear programmes with concrete policy agendas; emphasises that strengthening political culture in society can only be achieved through the implementation of transparent political decisions, political education in schools and universities, and through fighting populism and radicalism;

12. Encourages political parties to use digitalisation to communicate directly with society and to address declining membership numbers, as there is an urgent need to adapt to new digital innovations, which can help parties to achieve their objectives;

13. Stresses that, owing to quarantine restrictions, campaigning during electoral processes under conditions of unequal access to voters and media resources (as the main sources of information dissemination and communication with voters), as well as through social networks, can become a big challenge;

14. Condemns the abuse of influence over media by political parties for their own political gain and encourages their support for a free and independent media environment in the EU and the EaP; condemns instrumentalization of public media outlets, funded by taxpayer money, by governing political parties for their own political gains, and calls on appropriate independent oversight by media regulatory authorities;

15. Condemns the abuse of social media by political parties for creating fake accounts with attempts to impersonated their political rivals, opinion makers, activist groups, and media entities, and attack political opponents and civil society organizations;

The role of civil society

16. Stresses the importance of a vibrant civil society as an indicator for the state of democracy; calls to establish mechanisms that ensure adequate participation of civil society in the democratic process, for example through public consultations, parliamentary expert hearings, etc.; calls on political parties to support and engage openly with civil society in all aspects of their work on behalf of citizens, in order to take account of diverse opinions, strengthen domestic oversight over democratic reforms and add to their transparency and sustainability;

17. Underlines that, in some Eastern Partnership countries, civil society organisations continue to face challenges, mainly with regard to access to funding, state interference or lack of digitalisation;

18. Reiterates that a lively democracy needs a vibrant civil society and independent media which can operate in a safe environment and ensure a sound scrutiny of public institutions leading to the necessary checks and balances in a democratic society; calls on the EU and its Eastern partners to counter the shrinking space for civil society and independent media and ensure that they can work free from all restrictions and take the responsibility of creating favourable conditions for the work of Civil Society Organisations;

19. Condemns public attacks by officials and politicians on Civil Society Organisations, activists and human rights defenders by promoting lies, conspiracy theories, demonisations, or other forms of decredibilisation; any attempt then to legislatively restrict the activity of civil society groups based on such illiberal discourse is an attack on the basic democratic freedoms;

20. Calls on the EU to adapt and communicate a clear and structured system for providing grants to NGOs, including a renewed mechanism for evaluation by EU delegations and expert groups and a mechanism for broad participation by different organisations, with priority given to NGOs working on democracy standards, thereby avoiding the awarding of grants to ‘GONGOs’ (NGOs established and financed by governments through informal channels), as well as to NGOs working to combat the negative consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic;

21. Urges governments to refrain from abusing the Covid pandemic and their response to it as an excuse to silence critical voices, quench opposition or otherwise backsliding on democratic standards;

22. Calls on the EU and its Eastern partners to establish concrete inclusive mechanisms to make cooperation and consultation with civil society, including minorities’ and women’s rights organisations and human rights defenders, a standard element of the work of their institutions;

23. Calls on donors not to suspend their support for NGOs in EaP countries because of the economic crisis that may follow the COVID-19 pandemic, but to invest in long-term sustainable funding for civil society organisations; encourages the simplification of application methods and grant requirements in order to provide the possibility of financial support not only to large, experienced organisations, but also to smaller regional NGOs;

24. Encourages the mobilisation of financial resources for local, regional and international networks of NGOs in order to facilitate their cooperation, as this will permit them to step up the finding of good legislative examples that give legal security to the citizens in the social, economic and political dimensions; stresses that NGOs will also have the vital role of outlining those issues, which are of direct relevance to the non-compliance with the rule of law, infringement upon the freedom of expression, disinformation and fraud;

25. Stresses the need for the state to provide assistance in a transparent manner to identify and support grassroots movements and organisations in order to promote social change, the improvement of the general well-being and more inclusive, equal and sustainable societies;

26. Urges the EU and EaP countries to strengthen their support to local authorities in order to ensure sustainable participation and representation of citizens in the decision-making process under quarantine constraints, in particular by using online platforms and virtual consultation methods, designing the engagement strategy and deploying appropriate dialogue methods, reaching out to all stakeholders and social groups, especially by listening to their voices, insights and innovative ideas; at the same time underlines the importance of refraining from using local authorities and their resources before and during the elections to put pressure on citizens in favour of the currently governing party;

27. Encourages the European institutions to apply existing or future EU programmes concerning European values, such as the Rights and Values Programme, not only to EU Member States but also to the EaP countries and NGOs, by creating and promoting possible methods of cooperation between counterparts in the EU and the neighbourhood countries;

28. Underlines the importance of media freedom, which should entail equal access for all political actors to the media, editorial independence, pluralistic, impartial and non-discriminatory coverage of political views in programming in private and in particular public broadcasters, and transparent media ownership;

The role of free and pluralistic media

29. Stresses the need to increase awareness, to develop media and information critical literacy, which is necessary for all citizens; including persons belonging to national minorities, to be able to navigate in an increasingly complex media environment, in order to hinder the possibilities for manipulation of perceptions of facts and events and to understand both the origins of the news they rely on, the way it is produced, what interests are behind its production, and the editorial, technological and other forces involved in the filtering of information;

30. Calls on national governments and parliaments to create and maintain a safe and secure environment for journalists and other media actors, including foreign journalists, seeking to prevent any misuse of different laws or provisions which may impact on media freedom – such as those on defamation, anti-terrorism, national security, public order, hate speech, blasphemy or memory laws – which are too often applied to intimidate and silence journalists; highlights the importance of taking a gender-sensitive approach when considering measures to address the safety of journalists;

31. Strictly condemns all forms of pressure used for political purposes to silence critical media or independent journalists, especially violence, criminal prosecution and all other forms of intimidation; expresses its concern over the threats to media freedom and pluralism posed by some politicians, oligarchs and their cronies by buying up commercial media outlets and hijacking the public service media to serve partisan interests;

32. Calls on governments to advance transparency and ensure appropriate access to information of public interest, particularly the media and watchdog organizations, including by publishing information of public interest; condemns efforts by governments to unduly restrict access to information on issues important for the public by the use of unjustified administrative barriers;

33. Urges the EaP countries to thoroughly and in a transparent manner investigate the physical attacks, threats and online harassment against journalists and media workers, and ensure a safe and secure working environment for journalists and media workers reporting from the conflict zones, public protests and during the elections;

34. Condemns in the strongest possible terms politically motivated abductions and imprisonments of journalists and media workers, and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all wrongfully imprisoned journalists and media personnel in the EaP countries;

35. Calls on the EU and its Eastern partners to increase support, including financially, to free and independent media, as a basis for informed public discourse and pluralistic societies, in light of increasing challenges and funding problems;

36. Calls on national regulators to ensure full transparency on the part of private and public companies in the use of algorithms, artificial intelligence and automated decision-making, which should not be used for the purpose of manipulating public opinion, as well as to ensure full transparency in ownership of private media and to increase transparency requirements for foreign state-owned media outlets;

37. Recommends that the Commission establish and support an EaP media cluster based on innovation and sustainability; believes that such a cluster would strengthen the transnational informational space and reinforce co-productions between media players from the EU and the EaP countries in order to highlight their diversity and promote high quality, particularly in public broadcasting;

38. Notes that countries should develop their digital policy and strategy in accordance with a human rights-based approach, in full compliance with the relevant provisions of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and of the ECHR;

The role of a fair electoral environment

39. Reaffirms that holding fair, equal and transparent elections that are conducted by secret ballot and are based on democratic principles – and with full respect to the electoral right of active and passive participation of citizens – remains the main conditions for democratic representation and good and effective governance; urges political actors to discuss and adopt electoral reforms based on cross-party support and consultations with civil society in order to achieve the broadest possible support; urges the EU and Eastern Partnership Member States to improve their voting and counting systems;

40. Stresses the importance of strong parliaments, particularly in democracies in the process of consolidation, in order to avoid the temptation by hyper-centralised presidential regimes that finally derive towards authoritarian trends;

41. Calls on all EaP countries to implement outstanding OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission recommendations and address shortcomings identified in the electoral framework or the preparation and organisation of elections, concerning, inter alia, campaign financing, opposition representation in the election administration, dispute settlement;

42. Welcomes the appointment of the Personal Envoy of the European Council President, Charles Michel, for the EU mediated dialogue in Georgia, Christian Danielsson, and urges all political forces in Georgia to put aside their partisan interests for the sake of Georgia’s future, to work constructively towards resolving the crisis in a spirit of compromise and conciliation and to refrain from further stirring up an already heated political climate;

43. Strongly condemns the flawed 2020 elections in Belarus, and particularly the repression applied by the authorities against their own citizens, who were exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully;

44. Reiterates the EU’s demand to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Moldova, stressing that unconditional withdrawal of the Russian military, combat vehicles and ammunition from the territories of the Republic of Moldova, is the only guarantee for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Underscores that unilateral concessions requested by 5 + 2 mediators and observers cannot be made at the expense of the constitutional freedoms and liberties of the democratic citizens of Moldova. Recognize that Moldovan citizens must enjoy their right to live in a country protected against deep-seeded security, defence and hybrid threats, to move freely along the territory of Moldova, be protected against unlawful search or discretionary arrests of the unrecognized structures of the separatist bodies in Tiraspol, which must be seen as a priority compared to other elements of the conflict settlement;

45. Supports the decisions of the EU and many European states not to recognise the election results announced by the Belarusian Central Electoral Committee and not to recognise Alexander Lukashenka as the legitimate president of the country anymore after his term of office expired;

46. Calls the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Council to promote an ambitious vision on the EaP future, taking into account the willingness of the associated partners, including the Republic of Moldova, to further develop an enhanced cooperation with the EU in line with their European integration aspirations;

47. Stresses the need for better regulation of the digital and data-based electoral campaigns on social media, based on user segmentation and profiling – especially dark advertising on platforms targeting potential voters – in order to ensure transparency and data protection;

48. Is deeply concerned about ongoing external interference in the sovereign electoral process, which has the purpose to influence public debate and to affect the preferences of the voters; considers that this creates the need to set up appropriate preventative measures; hence, calls for the strengthening the efforts of the European institutions, its Member States and the Eastern Partnership countries to combat consciously organised disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks, often carried out directly by third countries or indirectly supported by their authorities; points out, in this regard, the recent disinformation campaigns supported by Russia and China on the causes and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic;

49. Calls on national parliaments to refrain from adopting changes to electoral legislation less than one year before elections, or to introduce such changes only in critical situations, on the basis of a broad consensus between all political actors and within society;

50. Consistent with the EU objective in development cooperation with all its willing and associated partners, as indicated in the European Consensus on Development and the Agenda for Change of 2015, and assuming that bringing Moldova closer to the EU programmes, policies and standards, will impact on the quality of participatory democracy and the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, good governance, a functioning market economy and sustainable development, the European Union shall consider to invite Moldova to join new policy areas and priorities, such as EU’s Rural Development Policy and the Leader Financing Programme;

51. Calls on governments and authorities to foster electoral reforms in order to ensure free, fair, competitive and transparent elections and encourage full compliance of election processes, notably in the adoption of legislative amendments to electoral laws and party financing, with international standards, the recommendations of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the opinions of the Venice Commission;

52. Welcomes regular independent, international election observation missions to EaP countries in order to support the process of strengthening institutions, election processes and democratic accountability;

53. Notes that decisions to conduct or postpone elections or referendums in a pandemic situation should be taken only after carefully evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of both scenarios, and after consulting the different stakeholders in the electoral process, as well as the authorities responsible for ensuring public health, safety and security;

54. Strongly condemns the illegal voting and so-called elections organised by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and Georgia and Moldova, and calls upon all international and European Union institutions and their Member States to abstain from any form of recognition of the legitimacy of the voting, referendums and ‘elected’ persons on the territory of the Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the Georgian regions of Abkhazia, Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia; Recognize that Moldovan citizens must enjoy their right to move freely throughout their country, without illegal control restrictions, and live without threats to their lives, be protected against unlawful search or discretionary arrests of the unrecognized structures of the separatist bodies in Tiraspol, which must be seen as a priority compared to other elements of the conflict settlement;

55. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the European Parliament, the Council, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, and the governments and parliaments of the EU Member States and the EaP countries.