The EU Democracy Shield: Too late to mend the cracks or better late than never?

#BeersPoliticsEU: "The EU Democracy Shield: Too late to mend the cracks or better late than never?"

Following the previous #BeersPoliticsEU session on defence, it is clear that Europe is fighting a hybrid pre-war on multiple fronts. Without a unifying war cry to rally all forces together, it is hard for the old continent to fend off the attacks from within and without.

Back in December last year, a special committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) was set up to provide input to the European Commission on the future 'European Democracy Shield' promised by Ursula von der Leyen in her political guidelines.

The EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, will in charge of putting in place the new European Democracy Shield.

What is the European Democracy Shield? Essentially, it will be a mechanism to combat disinformation, and 'foreign information manipulation and interference' (FIMI). It primarily aims to protect European democracies, by preserving the fairness and integrity of elections, by protecting political candidates and journalists, and by strengthening the civil dialogue and human rights defense.

Looking at the sophistication of cyber attacks, is the EU and Member States sufficiently equipped to deal with the FIMI? Deep political schism has already pulled Europeans apart, with politicians and voters drifting towards the extremes. Such threats cannot be solely attributed to foreign interference alone.

In this session of #BeersPoliticsEU, we'd like to cover as much as possible the following questions:

• What exactly will the Democracy Shield do and how will it fight foreign interference and protect European democracies?
• What can the new European Centre for Democratic Resilience do that has not been done before?
• What are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the proposal?
• We have been talking about disinformation for over a decade. Yet media literacy in identifying fake news is still very low. How can the Democracy Shield change that?
• Can the Democracy Shield mend the divisions created by internal actors? What can the "Recommendation and a guide of best practices in the Member States on the safety of political actors" concretely do?
• Increasingly media independence is under attack. How can the "Recommendation on the Safety of Journalists" protect journalists?

With us in the panel are:

• Alexandre Alaphilippe, Executive Director, EU DisinfoLab
• Emma Quaedvlieg, Policy Manager, European Partnership for Democracy
• Julie Majerczak, Representative to the European Institutions, Reporters Without Borders
• Lara Natale, Senior Director Public Affairs, Centre for Future Generations

More panelists to come.

Moderator: Harold Tor-Daenens, Senior EU Affairs Expert, Hyperion Tree Digital

• Location: Commons Hub Brussels, Rue de la Madeleine 51, 1000 Brussels
• Date: Tuesday, 9 December 2025
• Doors open: 17:30
• Time: 18:00-19:00, followed by Q&A plus informal chitchat
• Entrance fee: FREE, but every participant is asked to purchase a drink upon entrance to support the event.