Isabell Poppelbaum currently serves as the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the United Kingdom. Prior to her appointment, Ms Poppelbaum served for four years as Political Advisor to the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs/Political Director of the European External Action Service in Brussels, covering EU relations with the Asia-Pacific, Global Issues and EU-UK relations. From 2018-2020, she worked on Syria and the Middle East at EEAS Headquarters. Prior to this, Ms Poppelbaum served as Political Advisor in Myanmar and Thailand.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

On behalf of the EU Delegation to the United Kingdom it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the 2024 edition of the London Forum on Countering Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference, or FIMI as we like to call it.

This is the 4th time we’re organising this event here in London and it has grown in size and depth every year. What started as a small, informal exchange between EU and UK experts amidst the Covid pandemic has evolved into an important platform for practitioners, government officials, academics and experts on one of the biggest challenges to democracy of our time. We are delighted that so many of you are joining us today, both in the room and online.

In January this year, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report stated that the biggest short-term risk in 2024 stems from misinformation and disinformation. But I believe no one in this room needs to be convinced about the gravity of the problem. While our adversaries and competitors have long sought to interfere in our public discourse, the use of advanced technology has given them new and much more dangerous means to do so.

EU RESPONSE

The EU has invested heavily in understanding this problem and developing our response. This work began in earnest about ten years ago, after the Russian invasion in Crimea. Since then, we’ve come a long way. We’ve built up considerable capabilities with the objective to enable a more targeted and effective response to FIMI. So that we can better protect the EU’s democratic processes and boost the resilience of our societies.

A lot of what we have achieved over these past years, would not have been possible without the strong cooperation with our like-minded partners. EU experts have worked closely with colleagues from the UK, US and other G7 countries to identify these malign practices and to develop the best tools to counter and disrupt them.

This forum brings together many of those partners, whose participation we are very grateful for. But, even more critically, it includes those who are working on the very frontlines of this challenge – most notably our allies in Ukraine. Our job is not just to support you in your work, but also to learn from you. Your expertise is vital.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The topic of today’s event couldn’t be more fitting: “FIMI AS A GLOBAL THREAT IN A YEAR OF ELECTIONS”. 2024 is the biggest election year in human history. According to the UN, half of the world’s population – some 3.7 billion people – will have the opportunity to go to the polls in 72 countries. Many will be voting for the first time. Many will vote in hotly contested information environments where the truth is becoming a rare commodity. Our first panel of distinguished speakers will therefore look into FIMI as a global threat to democracy.

Colleagues,

There is no doubt that the Russian aggression against Ukraine since 2022 has sharpened our focus on the real-life consequences of foreign interference. This has prompted us to significantly step up our game and redouble our collective efforts to counter FIMI. And we are very pleased that we will have a dedicated panel today looking at the Lessons Learned from Ukraine which will bring insights into the Kremlin’s ever-growing arsenal used for weaponising information and propaganda.

But we must also take the time to understand how FIMI plays out differently in other regions across the world, which is why it is so important we have experts and practitioners from Africa here in the room with us. Our third panel will benefit from their wealth of experience from across the African continent to look at the FIMI threat there. This will help us identify important lessons that Western democracies can learn from the practices that work best in other regions.

Our final panel will look at the security implications from the evolving threat of FIMI. New technologies have and will change warfare. It is not new that our adversaries like to hide behind a veil of technology. They believe that the fog of war is thicker online. Now artificial intelligence is revolutionising how malign actors can manipulate content. It is much cheaper today to produce and much harder to detect information which is completely false. This makes the asymmetric threats to our democracies even more dangerous. And we need to be prepared for these evolving threats.

As we take stock today of how we all have worked together to combat FIMI, we should be proud of what we have achieved to date. Elections to the European Parliament in June were not severely disrupted by FIMI – not because our adversaries did not try to do so, but because we worked effectively to deter and disrupt these efforts.

Let me conclude by saying that while we should be proud of the work we have done together to date, we should not be complacent. As we evolve our responses, our adversaries will undoubtedly change their FIMI tactics. That’s why it is critically important that today we take stock not just of where we are, but that we chart a path forward for dealing with this problem in the years to come.

We have an impressive line-up of panellists. I would like to say a special “thank you” to our speakers. Your knowledge and insights, but also your passion and determination are inspiring.

I would also like to thank the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments for financing this important event. Also, it was good to partner again with the European Union Institute for Security Studies. And last, but certainly not least – thank you, Jessica, who will be our moderator guiding us through the day.

Many thanks to all of you for being here today and sharing your expertise! I am looking forward to our discussions.

Thank you.