Europe is flooded with false news on the environment, the climate and the energy policy, the Minister of the Environment Poland Paulina Hennig-Kloska said on Tuesday as she opened an informal summit of the EU climate ministers.
The ministers, who met in Warsaw under the auspices of the Polish presidency of the EU Council, arrived with a new example after the catastrophic failure of power in Spain and Portugal, which triggered a wave of conspiracy theories and false relationships.
“In the past few months, we have more targeted disinformation used for political purposes, very often by our political opponents,” said Hennig-Kloska after the discussion, held behind closed doors.
There was also involuntary disinformation due to a “lack of understanding of the complexities of European law,” she added.
Hennig -Kloska cited a trivial example – reports last year that Brussels wants to prohibit Bacon Crips, while in fact EU governments have agreed to eliminate eight smoke aromas for concerns, they can increase the risk of cancer – but said that the principle can be applied more widely.
European governments have so far lacked a coordinated approach to combat disinformation, said the minister, but the debate had “opened the subject at the level of the council,” she said.
“Cognitive war”
The Polish government published in January a report Commissioned at its military counter-espionage service which underlined a “cognitive war” led by Russia and the Bélarus at the cost of 2 to 4 billion dollars per year. While a large part of this focused on the Ukraine War, an important part has also proven to be targeting green policies and climate activism.
There is a link, insofar as the EU has renewable energy production to reduce dependence on imports of Russian fossil fuels. The commission is expected to present a roadmap next week for total elimination by 2027.
“Disinformation is an action to the detriment of people,” said Hennig-Kloska. “In this way, various forces are trying to delay, for example the energy transition of Europe, which is clearly beneficial for us.”
Climate activists fear that disinformation contributes to a decline in Brussels against a series of environmental legislation adopted the first mandate of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen at the head of the EU executive.
“Disinformation is increasing – in particular around EU climatic and environmental policies,” said Chiara Martinelli, director of the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe.
“It has become an essential weapon for groups and people seeking to polarize European societies and to erode confidence in democratic institutions such as national governments and the European Union,” Martinelli told Euronews.
Hennig-Kloska said the ministers had agreed that there was “no effective measure to fight disinformation” and that such measures should be put in place. However, no concrete plans was put on the table in Reunion, and the next step would be discussions with the Commission, added the minister.
One element would be “positive communications” from Brussels, including a overhaul of how EU institutions communicate with the public – their language must be “simpler and less official,” said the Polish minister.
