Members of the European Parliament are calling on intelligence services to publicly disclose the names of individuals who have been paid by Russia, while also pointing fingers at the EU’s far right.
During a plenary debate in Brussels on Wednesday (10 April), two French liberal MEPs led the charge for transparency.
“We demand the names, the numbers, who was paid, which party, by which intermediary, for which objective, and how much,” stated Valérie Hayer.
Nathalie Loiseau added: “the [intelligence] services must make public what they know” before the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.
“People have a right to know if they are voting for honest candidates or candidates who have been influenced by outside forces,” she emphasized.
“The fact that elected representatives accepted money from a hostile foreign power is unacceptable and I am appalled,” Loiseau continued.
Hayer initiated the discussion on Russian interference following reports from Czech and Polish intelligence services on 27 March revealing that MEPs and MEP candidates had received payments from Russia to promote propaganda.
The intermediary in this scheme was reportedly a pro-Russian website in Prague called Voice of Europe, operated by a pro-Kremlin oligarch.
The amounts involved were said to be “tens of thousands of euros,” according to the Czech and Polish agencies, although they have not yet disclosed the identities of those who received payments pending further investigations.
“We will not release further details at this time,” stated BIS, the Czech intelligence agency, to EUobserver.
Another intelligence agency from a different EU country participating in the counterintelligence probe stated: “The intelligence services in the Czech Republic and Poland have shared information publicly … other involved agencies prefer not to comment on this matter.”
The calls for transparency made by Hayer and Loiseau were supported by MEPs from various political backgrounds on Wednesday, with suspicions primarily focused on far-right EU deputies who have been linked to Voice of Europe, some of whom were present at the debate.
“[Russian president Vladimir] Putin has established connections within our institution, starting with far-right deputies and national leaders, who claim to be nationalists and defenders of their countries, but in reality are working for a hostile foreign regime,” stated French socialist Raphaël Glucksmann.
Glucksmann also criticized social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk for continuing to host content from Voice of Europe despite the accusations made by the Czech authorities.
Czech liberal MEP Dita Charanzová called on other EU states to follow Prague’s lead in removing Voice of Europe videos from circulation.
Subscribe to EUobserver’s daily newsletter
Receive all our stories at 7.30 AM daily.
