The EPP rapporteur for the European Democracy Shield, Swedish MEP Tomas Tobé, has warned that the European Union is still too weak in defending itself against Russian hybrid warfare and foreign information manipulation, calling the Commission’s current proposals insufficiently ambitious.
In a press briefing ahead of the committee vote, Tobé made clear that Russia has two strategic objectives: Territorial expansion (as seen in Ukraine) and keeping Europe weak and divided.
He cited multiple examples of Russian interference, including the [alleged] Romanian presidential election, influence operations in Germany, Sweden’s NATO accession process, and ongoing campaigns targeting candidate countries such as Moldova and potentially Iceland.
Tobé described a “very dangerous cocktail” consisting of massive Russian investment in disinformation combined with American and Chinese tech platforms that fail to take sufficient responsibility.
Tobé lauded the work of the Commission to make improvements, but said it was fundamentally “not ambitious enough” and that Brussels should “step it up”.
He stressed that troll farms in Saint Petersburg and bot networks are not protected free speech.
He explicitly rejected the idea of regulating debate to make it “nicer” according to political agendas, yet pushed for much stronger platform enforcement without giving many details on who should be policing what, besides bots and troll farms.
On the proposed European Centre for Democratic Resilience, Tobé said the Commission’s approach was simply improving coordination between existing structures and said this is too administrative and timid.
He is pushing for a centre with its own legal basis, dedicated budget, and real operational capacity to both analyse threats and respond rapidly to major disinformation campaigns.
Tobé also highlighted the instrumentalisation of migration by Russia and Belarus as a deliberate hybrid tactic designed to sow division in European societies. This was why, he explained, Europol and Frontex were also in the report on the democracy shield.
Regarding principles of free speech, Tobé said he was sensitive to it and was transatlantic at heart, but Europe has reached a cross point with the DSA and should stand up for its own legislation.
He came out in support of fines for X. “We decide over our rules, we have agreed on this legislation for a reason”, he said.
He said that Elon Musk should not be able to facilitate or influence specific discourses via X.
The report is expected to be voted on in committee in the coming days and in plenary in September. Tobé said he has broad support from the EPP, Renew, and parts of the Greens/S&D, but expects strong opposition from the far-left and the right-wing populist groups.
Tobé warned that “if you don’t stop this, you are working for Russia”.
📢 Media Invitation: In-person press briefing and Q&A session on the upcoming Committee vote on the European Democracy Shield report with Parliament’s rapporteur MEP @tomastobe
📅 Wednesday 10 June | 14:30 CEST, on-the-record
📍 European Parliament in Brussels – room details… pic.twitter.com/5jmDS4VwKl
— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) June 9, 2026
