Ten weeks before the polls on 6-9 June, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo accuses: from the teamwork of the Belgian and Czech 007s it emerged that Moscow has hired "some MEPs" to "spread its propaganda".
A network of influence started from the Voice of Europe website, a vehicle for Russian disinformation based in Prague, now obscured by the Czech government. Concrete accusations landed on the table of the European Parliament and its president, Roberta Metsola, committed to examining their veracity to decide which path to take. The Kremlin's political pressure, in De Croo's words, is "external, but there is cooperation from within." Among the corridors of the European Parliament, but also "at the highest levels of national democratic institutions". For the moment no names have emerged, but the Prague intelligence services have forwarded the information to colleagues across half of Europe, expanding the investigations to Belgium, but also to Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands and Hungary.
Through Voice of Europe - financed and operated by the pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, man in Vladimir Putin's magic circle - Moscow would have tried to use MEPs by interviewing them for a fee. Among them there would be exponents of Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, of the Flemish ultra-right Vlaams Belang, but also of Alternative fuer Deutschland, all formations of the sovereignist galaxy given the lead in the polls in view of the vote.
A scenario of disinformation which, in the eyes of the Vice President of the European Commission Vera Jourova, "confirms" how Moscow makes use of "shady means that pass themselves off as media" and "uses money to acquire hidden influence".
The Liberals and the Greens are loudly calling for "a complete and transparent internal investigation": the voters, according to Renew's Macron group leader, Valérie Hayer, "must know if the deputies or candidates are working with the support of Russia or its delegates". «It is not the first time that it has been demonstrated that far-right politicians, who loudly claim to defend their country, secretly accept money from foreign countries», the ecologists also thunder, with the German group leader Terry Reintke denouncing «an attack directed at the very fabric of our democracy."
The European Chamber - which has been dealing with the alleged Qatargate corruption scandal since December 2022, which has now also come under investigation - is for now leaving the possible legal action on stand-by . However, the president and her team, the press service assures us, "is currently examining, in coordination with her institutional partners", the conclusions of the Czech authorities. Access to the Russian propaganda network, "which appears on the EU sanctions lists", is already prohibited. Unreachable for days now, Voice of Europe has not deactivated its social networks: on the X profile, the posts are still visible. As well as his 180 thousand followers.
(Unioneonline/D)
