Check against delivery!   

Thank you, President, Honourable Members [of the European Parliament],  

I want to thank the Rapporteur Sanchez Amor and all MEPs who have contributed to this report.  You are bringing forward one of the most complex challenges the European Union needs to face as a global actor, which is helping citizens across the world to exercise their right to participate in public life and elections.  

Your report highlights that 80% of the world’s population currently live in countries that cannot be considered free.  

Only three decades ago, one could believe that the end of the Cold War would give way to a world predominantly ruled by democratic nation-states. Today we know that, not only Democracy cannot be taken for granted, but our liberal democracies increasingly come under attack.  

We need to make one thing clear from the start: the right to participate in public life and to vote in democratic elections is a human right. A basic right recognised by international law to all citizens across the world, but that fewer and fewer individuals can fully enjoy. 

You say in your Report that this right is under threat, not only because authoritarian regimes violently silence the opposition, perpetuate themselves in power abusing the system, or even come to power by means of military coups d’état. Amongst the most dangerous, but less obvious, threats are the proliferation of illiberal actors who, disguised as democrats, instrumentalise social networks and traditional media to spread false or manipulated information, to unjustifiably delegitimise democratic electoral processes, to foster mistrust and disenchantment among the population and, ultimately, discourage the vote, disempower the electorate and highjack democratic elections.  

The strategies used by illiberal regimes and actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In particular, the development of digital and Artificial Intelligence tools are creating a whole world of opportunities but also challenges to our democracies, for instance, when used to shape and fuel divisive narratives or a distorted perception of reality. These threats coexist with older tools used by autocratic regimes, including the deployment of fake observers that rubberstamp manipulated electoral outcomes. 

In the face of these challenges, the European Union must be relentless in its efforts to uphold democratic processes worldwide.  

In this spirit, the European Union has endowed the “Global Europe Human Rights and Democracy” programme with €1.5 billion, to support actions conducive to the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in particular, to enhance democratic resilience and participation in third countries. 

One of the most visible examples of the European Union’s actions in support of Democracy remains our EU Election Observation Missions. The EU electoral missions are not only highly recognised across the world for their professionalism and high standards of independence and impartiality, but above all, they remain a crucial tool both for local actors and for the European Union to, first, assess the electoral processes in light of international standards and, second, to identify the necessary actions to support, as a follow-up of their recommendations.  

The EU Election Observation Mission to Guatemala is only one recent example of the significant role that the EU-flagged missions can play in supporting democratic electoral processes. 

By adopting a long-term framework, the EU Electoral Observation Missions have been able to expose many of the strategies that autocrats use to perpetuate themselves in power, for example by capturing institutions, coercing voters or malignly manipulating information.  

At the same time, the EU Observation Missions themselves are sometimes facing challenges, including attempts to delegitimise their action when they expose undemocratic behaviours. However, this is a testimony of their good work in upholding democratic outcomes, particularly as opposition parties and civil society continue to highly demand the EU observation and to make good use of their assessment and recommendations.  

In this regard, and on behalf of the High Representative [Josep Borrell], allow me to take this opportunity to thank the European Parliament once again, and most particularly the MEPs who serve as Chief Observers in our electoral missions, for your active engagement and support for the European Union’s policies and actions in defence of Democracy.  

You can rest assured that we will take good note of the suggestions you put forward on how to best support democratic participation across the world. Your contribution, as elected representatives of EU citizens, remains key and always welcome. 

Thank you. 

Link to the video (starting at 04:58): https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-248059 

Closing remarks  

Thank you, President,

The debate today is testimony of your continued commitment and engagement to uphold democratic values, especially at a time when they are facing serious threats and new challenges.  

In light of this, we welcome your recommendations on how the European Union can best contribute to strengthening the resilience and legitimacy of electoral processes. 

The European Union will continue to use all the tools at its disposal in support of the right to participation in public life and democratic elections. This includes supporting the work of electoral observers as what they truly are: “human rights defenders”. 

The European Union and its Member States will continue working with international partners to uphold international standards in election observation, while we step up support to genuine domestic observation.  

The comprehensive and coherent follow-up of the EU Election Observation mission reports remains crucial.   

Our actions need to be tailored made to be efficient and, above all, serve to support national-led solutions. These can range from providing technical support to strengthening the resilience of the institutions or media actors, to supporting dialogue between an autocratic regime and the political opposition or, even, imposing restrictive measures, as a last resort. This is what we have done, for example, in the case of Belarus. 

We need to remain vigilant and adapt our actions to the new sophisticated strategies that autocratic regimes have adopted to undermine the rule of law at home and abroad. The creative solutions that you suggest in your Report will be highly considered in this process.  

I thank you. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-248061