Foreign Interferences in the EU Political System: The pursuit of Equilibrium against an elusive threat

Besnier, Thibault;Ketterlin, Marie;et.al.
(2025) The Law and Governance of the EU Public Ethics System: An Institutional Perspective — ISBN: [978-3-031-80371-0], p. 390, accepted/in-press

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Abstract
Foreign Interferences are a growing threat for the European Union. They have triggered several scandals and crisis for the Union, with recently the Qatargate and Russiagate scandals even putting in question EU Institutions’ ethics – both in terms of their capacity to resist malign foreign influence and in the ethics of the policy response it adopted. If it initially reacted to it by using tools such as strategic communications, the European Commission is not shying away anymore from proposing a regulation on Foreign Agents influencing EU Institutions. As the threat is becoming more acute and touches the heart of the EU, the EU policy response is changing, it increasingly uses hard law instruments. In this contribution, we question the determinants of the EU’s policy response to Foreign Interferences by analyzing three cases, which are instances of foreign interference: Disinformation, Cyber threats and Malign Foreign Influence. Using process tracing, it will explain the mechanisms determining the Union’s response to Foreign Interferences, it will do so by analysing interviews but also Institutions’ documents discussing foreign interferences. Building upon this framework, this chapter will conclude with recommendations for policymakers.
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Besnier, T., Ketterlin, M., & et al. (2025). Foreign Interferences in the EU Political System: The pursuit of Equilibrium against an elusive threat. In Alberto Alemanno (ed.), The Law and Governance of the EU Public Ethics System: An Institutional Perspective (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics, p. p. 390). Palgrave Macmillan Cham. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/239092