Today, European Democrats are happy to welcome the adoption of the report on transparency and targeting of political advertisement by the Committee of Internal Market and Consumer Protection. The EDP acknowledges and thanks EP rapporteur for this Regulation, and EDP Secretary General, Sandro Gozi, for his work and dedication in order for this vote to be successful. This makes things easier for citizens to recognize a political advertisement and to be aware of what its reason is and who finances it.
Governmental cooperation is improved through this as national authorities can agree on harmonized penalties. MEPs and other officials face the challenge of fighting dis and misinformation which disturb the democratic process. This report goes well in hand with DSA legislation (Digital Services Act Regulation)
Secretary General of the EDP, Sandro Gozi, has stated that “Politics is constantly changing shape, and political advertising is becoming an ever more important dimension of it. Once in force, we hope by the end of this year, elections in the EU will be more transparent and resistant to the manipulations as witnessed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The report will make abusive online political advertising a thing of the past by making it impossible to prey on people’s specific weaknesses. We need to eliminate the current obstacles to truly transnational campaigns during the European elections. This legislation will also make political actors more accountable for the adverts they disseminate. And when rules are broken, better sanctions will be able to be imposed in an equal way across the EU.”
Gozi continues to emphasize the importance of this report in so far that “we establish the fight against disinformation and foreign interference; a ban on voter manipulation using digital techniques; the elimination of obstacles to the freedom of political advertising services and to true transnational European campaigns; greater accountability of political actors on advertisements; and more effective sanctions imposed fairly throughout the European Union.”
🇨🇵La politique change constamment de forme, et la publicité politique devient une dimension incontournable. Elle doit être régulée.
— Sandro Gozi (@sandrogozi) January 24, 2023
D'ici la fin de l'année, l'objectif est d'avoir des élections dans l'UE plus transparentes et plus armées face aux manipulations extérieures. pic.twitter.com/n273iotUc8
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Sandro Gozi to Vučić: “Serbia cannot join Europe with repression and lies”
The Secretary General of the European Democratic Party and Member of the European Parliament with Renew Europe, Sandro Gozi, has published an open letter to the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, with a copy to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The initiative follows Vučić’s letter sent to Brussels on 21 August, in which he accused Serbian students and demonstrators of violence, reversing the truth and blaming the victims of repression.
In his statement, Gozi denounces the hundreds of arrests of students and peaceful citizens, the use of a sonic cannon (LRAD) during the March protest in Novi Sad, the shocking video of students forced to their knees and filmed by police, the violent arrests of women and even minors, and the attack on press freedom with intimidation against N1, documented by OCCRP/KRIK.
Gozi stresses that it is not citizens who endanger Serbia’s European path, but President Vučić and his government. By resorting to repression, false narratives and attacks on fundamental freedoms, they are undermining the credibility and the European future of the country.
Open Letter
To the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić
with a copy to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
President Vučić,
Your letter of 21 August addressed to President von der Leyen is a masterpiece of hypocrisy. But facts, numbers and images tell another story.
In recent months, hundreds of people have been arrested in Serbia, including students and peaceful citizens. Many of them remain in prison today, facing charges that are essentially political. In practice, this undermines their freedom of expression and discourages democratic participation. It is not the citizens who are destabilising the country: it is your government, repressing the right to protest.
In March, during a commemoration in Novi Sad, a sonic cannon (LRAD) was used against demonstrators, A weapon, capable of provoking harsh pain, panic and permanent hearing damage. A practice that has nothing to do with the european standards you claim to embrace.
On 15 August, a video showed fifteen young people forced to their knees against a wall, filmed by police officers. An act of public humiliation, in total contempt for human dignity and contrary to every democratic standard.
And this was not an isolated case: in those same days, other footage and testimonies clearly showed worrying heavy-handed arrests, with students dragged to the ground, women and even minors treated without regard for their rights.
While students are beaten and arrested, citizens have witnessed violent groups apparently close to your party moving about undisturbed.
This selective tolerance raises serious concerns of rule of law.
Equally serious is the attack on freedom of information. N1, a news channel belonging to United Media (United Group), has been the target of a campaign of intimidation and pressure documented in recordings published by OCCRP/KRIK. You know perfectly well that silencing the last independent broadcaster means suffocating truth and pluralism.
President Vučić, it is not the youth, it is not the citizens, it is not the demonstrators who are jeopardising the European path of Serbia: Serbia belongs to Europe. But it is you — with your policies, your denyal your statements — which are undermining the credibility and the european path of your country.
Your accusations against Nikolina Sindjelić are embarrassing . The evidence shows that threats, unlawful arrests and violence have indeed taken place: personal attacks do not erase reality.
Your letter must therefore be sent back to the sender.
Serbian citizens deserve much better and Europe is something else: freedom, dignity, democracy.
EDP Hosts Transatlantic Dialogue on the Future of Centrist Politics
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Joint statement on the 30th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide
Thirty years ago, in Srebrenica, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered by the Bosnian Serb army. In 2007, the International Court of Justice ruled that the atrocities constituted genocide. The wider Bosnian War saw over 100,000 killed, thousands of women raped, and more than two million people forced from their homes between 1992 and 1995. On this solemn occasion remembering one of the darkest chapters in Europe’s recent history, the ALDE Party, LIBSEEN members in the region, ALDE in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, European Democratic Party, Liberal International, LYMEC, Renew Europe in the Committee of the Regions, Renew Europe in the European Parliament, and the Young Democrats for Europe are united in honouring their memory and issue the following statement:
