Petras Auštrevičius, a Lithuanian MEP, said it was clear that the EU needed to be more agile in responding to disinformation campaigns. In contrast, the EU unit relies mostly on member states and a modest slice of the EU’s communication budget. Since the Cologne attacks on New Year’s Eve 2015, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has emerged as the biggest target for Russian disinformation. Donald Tusk, the European council’s president, said in October that “Russia’s strategy is to weaken the EU”, highlighting “all sorts of Russian activities, from airspace violations, disinformation campaigns, cyber-attacks [to] interference in the political processes of the EU”. Sanita Pavᶅuta-Deslandes, Latvia’s ambassador to the EU, told the Guardian recently that Russian disinformation campaigns were a constant concern.

Source: The Guardian January 23, 2017 18:32 UTC