The AI Act is intended to be a major legal framework to introduce protections for fundamental rights in a fast developing technology that is already shaping society in all aspects. In the recent votes in the Parliament’s Internal Market (IMCO) and Civil Liberties...
With the elections looming, the institutions are eager to finalise work on the remaining major legislative files.
However, the Defence of Democracy package, originally expected in June, has been delayed following widespread alarm at its proposed foreign interference directive.
The European Commission is set to publish its proposed Defence of Democracy package, following a short and limited Call for Evidence. In our response to the consultation, we made it clear that the package’s focus on ‘foreign interference’ risks damaging democracy, not...
230 civil society organisations have come together to express concern and opposition to a proposed ‘foreign interference’ directive which would create a register of foreign funded organisations. This legislation could have unintended negative consequences, hindering...
To the President of the French Republic, On 5 April 2023, while speaking to the French National Assembly, your Minister of the Interior publicly questioned the continuation of state subsidies to the Human Rights League."I do not know about the subsidy given by the...
Civil society is a cornerstone of democracy. But across the EU, NGOs are under pressure. In our Civic Space Report 2023, we explain why to create resilient democracies, we must empower civil society.
Reversing the trend of shrinking civic space and protecting civil society is vital to defend democracy. In 2023 we must take our campaigning to the next level.
2022 has been nothing if not an eventful year. As we began to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, we were met immediately by another crisis: war came once again to our continent. At the time, we condemned the invasion of Ukraine and expressed our solidarity with the...
On 10-11 November, academics, civil society representatives and activists gathered in Florence to attend the fifth European Civic Academy. This year’s event was held on the theme “Capturing the winds of change: how can democratic civil society drive systemic change?”...
The European Commission’s inclusion of a cross-border statute for associations and measures on civic space in its 2023 work programme are encouraging signs. Parliament’s call for France-style restrictions on access to funding, particularly targeting Muslim...