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European Partnership for Democracy

EPD

The European Partnership for Democracy is a network of European organisations that supports democratic development worldwide and advocates for democracy support in EU policy.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Werner Stengg (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen)

17 Dec 2025 · Digital Sovereignty

Meeting with Thomas Schmitz (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen)

16 Dec 2025 · European Democracy

Meeting with Hildegard Bentele (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

4 Dec 2025 · Global Gateway

European Partnership for Democracy warns against rolling back digital protections

14 Oct 2025
Topic — The Commission seeks to simplify digital rules through a new omnibus legislative package.
Message — The group urges the Commission to prioritize implementation before revising current laws. They argue that simplification must not lead to deregulation or weaker digital rights.12
Why — Maintaining strong regulations preserves the democratic integrity they are missioned to protect.34
Impact — Businesses seeking lower costs would lose the potential relief of reduced digital regulations.5
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Meeting with Alex Agius Saliba (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Oct 2025 · Democracy Shield and Democratic Tech Alliance

Meeting with Kathleen Van Brempt (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Sept 2025 · Democracy in the Western Balkans - Serbia

European Partnership for Democracy calls for robust civil society protections

2 Sept 2025
Topic — This consultation seeks to create a framework for supporting civil society and protecting civic space.
Message — EPD recommends a strategy based on six principles to ensure an enabling environment. They advocate mainstreaming consultation across all policies and securing flexible, long-term core funding.12
Why — This framework provides financial stability and safer conditions for organizations to perform their watchdog functions.3
Impact — Governments seeking to restrict dissent face stronger monitoring and financial conditionality on EU investments.4
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Response to Guidance on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising

25 Jun 2025

The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) welcomes the European Commissions consultation on guidance on implementing EU rules on political advertising. As an organisation committed to supporting democratic resilience and transparency, we believe this initiative represents an important step towards ensuring a more trustworthy and accountable political advertising environment across the EU and a good complement to Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Ads. These measures represent an important step toward increasing democratic accountability and citizens understanding of how and why they are being targeted with political messages. In this context we would like to reiterate a few points that we think should be taken into account as part of the Guidance, particularly when it comes to the identification of political ads (see full response in attachment).
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Meeting with Pekka Toveri (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Jun 2025 · Current Topics in EU politics

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Jun 2025 · Event: Civil society exchange on European Democracy Shield

EPD urges party affiliation in political ad labels

27 May 2025
Topic — Setting technical standards for labels and transparency notices in political advertising.
Message — The group supports standardized labels and suggests adding explicit party affiliations to show political influence networks. They also request support for smaller media players and ongoing research into label effectiveness.123
Why — Detailed templates and legal certainty help the organization monitor advertising compliance effectively.4
Impact — Small independent advertising providers might face high costs that drive them out.5
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Meeting with Lora Borissova (Cabinet of Commissioner Hadja Lahbib)

14 May 2025 · - MFF - Middle East

Response to European Democracy Shield

13 May 2025

Dear, Please find enclosed the input for the European Democracy Shield coordinated and supported by the European Partnership for Democracy, signed by 60 civil society organisations. The European Partnership for Democracy and the democracy support community welcome this very timely initiative of the new European Commission as a coordinated effort to support democracy in and around Europe. This initiative is particularly relevant in the current context of global democratic backsliding. To ensure that the European Democracy Shield effectively responds to the challenges faced by democracy in Europe, it must address a comprehensive set of priorities: 1 - Effective implementation and enforcement of existing legislation 2 - Combatting disinformation 3 - Support to the media sector 4 - Encompassing a global dimension 5 - Ensuring an enabling environment for civil society 6 - Democracy at the core of the EUs security and defence strategy 7 - Strategic coordination between different Directorates, Departments and Agencies 8 - Innovating democracy EPD is advocating for targeted action within these areas, including the demonetisation of disinformation, strengthening funding mechanisms for public interest media, and allocating resources to ensure the effective implementation of key legislation, such as the Digital Services Act, the AI Act, and the European Media Freedom Act. These priority areas and recommendations are elaborated on in the supporting file attached.
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Meeting with Marie-Helene Boulanger (Head of Unit Justice and Consumers)

3 Apr 2025 · Exchange of views on the preparation of the European Democracy Shield

Meeting with Marco Giorello (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and EuroCommerce and

6 Mar 2025 · Code of Conduct on Online Advertising – Workshop 2

Meeting with Marco Giorello (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and EuroCommerce and

4 Mar 2025 · Code of Conduct on Online Advertising – Workshop 1

Meeting with Sibylle Bikar (Cabinet of High Representative/ Vice-President Kaja Kallas)

14 Feb 2025 · External action priorities on democracy of EPD

Meeting with Rita Wezenbeek (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and

11 Feb 2025 · Opening Session: DSA roundtable discussions on online advertising (Article 46 DSA)

Meeting with Florian Geyer (Head of Unit Justice and Consumers)

23 Jan 2025 · Annual Rule of Law Cycle

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament)

6 Dec 2024 · European Democracy Shield

Meeting with Sebastian Tynkkynen (Member of the European Parliament) and Puolueiden kansainvälinen demokratiayhteistyö – Demo Finland

5 Dec 2024 · Demokratian tukeminen

EPD demands easier data access for civil society researchers

26 Nov 2024
Topic — Rules for researchers to access non-public data from major online platforms.
Message — Include civil society organisations in the researcher vetting process. Relax data protection standards and expand the definition of scientific research. Create simple ways to appeal data access rejections by authorities.123
Why — This allows advocacy groups to influence policy with evidence-based digital research.4
Impact — Online platforms lose their ability to restrict data access through administrative barriers.5
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Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

26 Nov 2024 · Democracy Shield, Defence of Democracy

Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner) and European Endowment for Democracy and

25 Nov 2024 · Meeting with the International IDEA (I-IDEA), the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) to discuss “Call t

Meeting with Ana Catarina Mendes (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Amnesty International Limited and

18 Nov 2024 · Exchange of views on the Rule of Law Report 2024

Meeting with Robert Biedroń (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Nov 2024 · Issues for DROI

Meeting with Karlo Ressler (Member of the European Parliament)

21 Oct 2024 · Commissioner hearings and European Partnership for Democracy

Meeting with Birgit Sippel (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Sept 2024 · Rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights' protection across Europe

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Vice-President) and

12 Sept 2024 · democracy, Rule of Law

Meeting with Diana Riba I Giner (Member of the European Parliament)

9 Sept 2024 · Media Pluralism and EU Media legislation

Meeting with Isabel Wiseler-Lima (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Save the Children Europe and

4 Sept 2024 · Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union s policy on the matter – annual report 2024

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Democracy Reporting International

8 Mar 2024 · Money talks – the Rule of law and the EU budget

Meeting with Sergey Lagodinsky (Member of the European Parliament) and Forum Civique Européen

5 Feb 2024 · Defence of Democracy Package

EPD and Liberties urge clearer Digital Services Act transparency reporting

24 Jan 2024
Topic — EU rules establishing mandatory templates for content moderation transparency reports under the DSA.
Message — EPD and Liberties support standardized reporting but want clearer, more meaningful content moderation data. They request detailed methodology for automated moderation and easier public access to these reports.123
Why — Standardised data allows civil society to monitor democratic risks and platform accountability effectively.4
Impact — Large platforms lose the ability to use inconsistent reporting to obscure moderation practices.5
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Meeting with Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

3 Oct 2023 · Political Advertising

Meeting with Raphaël Glucksmann (Member of the European Parliament) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and Civil Society Europe

20 Sept 2023 · Ingérences étrangères, défense de la démocratie

Response to Ex-post evaluation REC and EfC programmes (2014-2020) and interim evaluation CERV programme (2021-2027)

1 Sept 2023

One of the main objectives of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme is to promote inclusive societies and support civil society in the European Union. However, the calls for proposals are usually very narrowly specialised in predefined themes, which means that smaller civil society organisations (CSOs) and grassroots organisations working in the Member States do not have access to these funding streams. In order for the programme to become the main tool for effectively tackling inequalities and discrimination, more funding needs to be made available to civil society across the European Union. In line with the evaluation criteria of 'efficiency and opportunities for simplification and reduction of burden', there is further scope for improving the programme in terms of clarity of donor expectations, particularly in terms of outputs to be delivered and reporting. Communication with the project manager via the platform is time-consuming and not efficient.
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Meeting with Simona Constantin (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and

28 Jul 2023 · Defence of Democracy

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Vice-President) and

6 Jul 2023 · Defence of Democracy

Meeting with Didier Reynders (Commissioner) and

24 Apr 2023 · Defence of democracy

Meeting with Simona Constantin (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová), Wojtek Talko (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová)

24 Apr 2023 · Defence of Democracy, Foreign interference initiative

Response to Recommendation on covert interference from third countries

14 Apr 2023

This paper contains the contributions and recommendations from 47 organisations based in Europe and active in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. In presenting our recommendations for an ambitious Defence of Democracy Package, we welcome the European Commissions initiative and underscore the need to take a wide view of how to defend our political systems. On 13 September 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that: We need to better shield ourselves from malign interference. This is why we will present a Defence of Democracy Package. It will bring covert foreign influence and shady funding to light. We will not allow any autocracys Trojan horses to attack our democracies from within. We welcome the fact that discussions on the Defence of Democracy Package have expanded beyond an overwhelming emphasis on foreign interference. Challenges to democracy come from within Europe as well. We collectively insist that any measures made to tackle foreign interference, and in particular the proposal for legislation on common transparency and accountability standards for interest representation services directed or paid for from outside the EU and the legal form chosen (directive), must be made carefully and with due regard for international human rights law, the Charter of Fundamental Values, article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and European policy-making processes. Without clear assessments and definitions, there is a risk any proposal can be weaponised against pro-democratic actors by those seeking to undermine democracy. The risk is not theoretical - foreign interference has been used in many countries around the world already to stifle media, journalists, civil society and political opposition. The European Commission should ensure that the legislative and non-legislative initiatives of the Package reinforce fundamental rights and go beyond reiterating existing policy initiatives. This contribution provides sets of recommendations in the following areas: - civil society, civic space and active citizenship; - European elections; - disinformation; - the online public sphere; - independent media; - and foreign interference. We believe that effective action in all of these areas will be essential to protect democracy towards the 2024 European Parliament elections and they should therefore be covered by the Defence of Democracy Package.
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Meeting with Irena Joveva (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Apr 2023 · European Media Freedom Act

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Mar 2023 · Defence of Democracy Package (staff-level)

Meeting with Alex Agius Saliba (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and European Publishers Council

29 Mar 2023 · stakeholders meeting EMFA

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Mar 2023 · Defence of Democracy

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and European Digital Rights and

27 Mar 2023 · Political advertising

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion)

24 Mar 2023 · European Media Freedom Act

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Vice-President) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and

17 Mar 2023 · Defence of democracy package

Meeting with Irena Joveva (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and European Federation of Journalists

8 Mar 2023 · European Media Freedom Act

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Access Now Europe

28 Feb 2023 · Event: Transparency in the European Elections

Meeting with Viola Von Cramon-Taubadel (Member of the European Parliament)

26 Jan 2023 · Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy

European Partnership for Democracy demands stronger protections for journalists

23 Jan 2023
Topic — The initiative seeks to strengthen media pluralism and independence across the European Union.
Message — EPD advocates for mandatory judicial authorization before surveilling journalists and rejects the proposed content moderation exemptions. They also demand removing the transparency exemption for local governments regarding state advertising.123
Why — This would empower civil society to monitor ownership and expose hidden government influence.4
Impact — Propagandists and secretive governments lose the ability to manipulate media without scrutiny.5
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Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and

1 Dec 2022 · Speech at the 2nd GAP III Structured Dialogue with CSOs

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Institute for Strategic Dialogue

14 Nov 2022 · The impact of political advertising on elections

Meeting with Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Google and NOVE

9 Nov 2022 · Political Advertising

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion)

27 Sept 2022 · Staff Level: Political Advertising Regulation

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

11 Jul 2022 · Political Advertising

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion) and Centre for Democracy Technology, Europe and

28 Jun 2022 · Event on Political Advertising Regulation (assistant participated)

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion) and Access Now Europe and

21 Jun 2022 · Shadows meeting on Political Advertising with stakeholders

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

4 May 2022 · Political advetising

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

24 Feb 2022 · Roundtable on political advertising

Meeting with Monika Ladmanova (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová), Wojtek Talko (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová)

14 Feb 2022 · EDAP

Response to Transparency of political advertising

31 Jan 2022

Online political advertising is a relatively new phenomenon that has not been thoroughly regulated - a regulatory gap which threatens electoral integrity through voter manipulation, opaque campaigning and disinformation campaigns, as shown by the Cambridge Analytica scandal and recent whistle-blowers’ testimony. This regulation acts as lex specialis to the Digital Services Act to focus specifically on political advertising online, overcoming the failures of the self-regulatory Code of Practice 1.0. In the last years, we have been following this file closely, pushing for a regulation with a policy dialogue regarding online political ads, a statement on political ads and a lengthy input paper to the European Democracy Action Plan. Here we share our initial reaction to the proposed legislation. The proposal by the European Commission is a stepping stone towards ensuring fair and transparency online campaigning. The whole-of-value-chain approach that translates on imposing obligations on the whole value chain of political advertising and not only on platforms will make the regulation more effective. Also, leaving most technical details in annexes subject to review in delegated acts makes it future-proof. However, minor additions to the proposal would lead to much greater positive impact in terms of electoral integrity, trust in democracy and protection of fundamental rights. Therefore, we propose to improve this regulation by including: - A mandate for universal, real-time, comprehensive ad libraries; - A ban to the use of inferred data for political advertising; and - Further clarification of the definition of ads liable to influence a political process. The success of the regulation will depend to a great extent on: - The resources devoted to the implementation of the regulation by platforms and very large online platforms (VLOPs) in particular; - The introduction of proportionate, dissuasive, and effective sanctions in all Member States; and - The willingness of the co-legislators to be more ambitious than the current proposal. We kindly invite everyone to read our full submission in the attachment, also available over the following link: https://epd.eu/2021/11/25/online-political-ads-regulation-reaction/#1637835749523-26045bef-1d55
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Meeting with Didier Reynders (Commissioner) and

19 Jan 2022 · Rule of Law

Meeting with Werner Stengg (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager)

28 Oct 2021 · Digital Services Act and Political Advertising Directive

Meeting with Monika Ladmanova (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová), Wojtek Talko (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová)

14 Oct 2021 · Political advertising

Response to Digital Services Act: deepening the Internal Market and clarifying responsibilities for digital services

31 Mar 2021

Transparency of advertising Online advertising drives excessive data collection, personal data abuse and intrusive targeting. In addition to the large-scale privacy breaches that continue to escape GDPR enforcement, this situation has led to the manipulation of democratic elections and the distortion of online public debate around the world. The DSA has a chance to set this right: - We welcome Articles 22, 24 and 30 on advertising transparency, advertising repositories and the traceability of traders, and believe these provisions should be maintained. This is in line with demands from a coalition of 31 CSOs calling for universal ad transparency. - In order to ensure meaningful transparency, the advertising repositories of Very Large Online Platforms should also include: - User access to their dynamic advertising profiles; - Audience reached; - Engagements with the ad; - GDPR basis for data processing and data source. Assessing and mitigating systemic risks In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, platforms have shown their ability to counter the societal harms that their services amplify and accelerate, such as COVID-19 disinformation. Yet the storming of Capitol Hill has highlighted platforms’ inability or unwillingness to intervene without political pressure to do so. Platforms thus seem ill-equipped and unsuited to identify and mitigate systemic risks as identified in the Digital Services Act. While the principles of risk assessments (Article 26), risk mitigation (Article 27) and independent audits (Article 28) are appropriate, the Commission proposal needs to be refined in the following ways: - The risks detailed in Article 26 need to be more clearly phrased and defined. Broad terms like “civic discourse” and “intentional manipulation” of electoral processes risk being so vague that they will either not be applied, or implemented in a way that may harm freedom of expression and the press. - Risk assessments and decisions on mitigation measures should be conducted through an inclusive, transparent and participatory process with participation from digital services coordinators, data protection authorities and media regulators, as well as civil society and rights groups, media associations and representatives of minority and disadvantaged groups. Decisions such as demoting particular kinds of content cannot continue to be taken without any oversight from free speech advocates. Such decisions need to undergo rigorous checks for their potential impact on people’s right to opinion formation, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and non-discrimination. - Codes of conduct that may trigger investigations into Very Large Online Platforms upon non-compliance are the right tool for defining systemic risks and stipulating the participatory process for risk assessments. - Risk assessments reports and mitigation measures need to be made publicly available, at minimum in an edited form. - While audits are an excellent accountability mechanism, such audits should be conducted by a public oversight agency such as the European Board of Digital Services, rather than by private sector auditors. This is necessary to ensure consistent standards and methodologies for auditing over time and across platforms. Moreover, it would mitigate the risk of revolving doors between Very Large Online Platforms and the very few auditing firms who would be capable of auditing Very Large Online Platforms. “Gold standard”: While the DSA is EU legislation designed for the EU, similarly to the GDPR, a secondary aim of the legislation is to set a global “gold standard” for ensuring internet safety and accountability online. However, this global view does not take into account the global voices and experiences. This is despite the very real threat that “copycat” legislative measures may pose to the freedom of expression and other fundamental rights in countries. Legislators should be aware of this more global reach and responsibility.
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Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner)

2 Feb 2021 · Launching of the European Democracy Hub- event organised by EPD

Meeting with Renaud Savignat (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen)

14 Jan 2021 · Preparation of the European Democracy Hub event

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Vice-President) and Carnegie Europe

4 Dec 2020 · EDAP

Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and

10 Nov 2020 · Democracy Support Roundtable

Meeting with Renaud Savignat (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen)

27 Oct 2020 · Preparation of the Democracy Support Roundtable on 10/11/20

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Vice-President) and Reset Tech UK

26 Oct 2020 · European Democracy Action Plan

Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton) and Amnesty International Limited and

15 Jul 2020 · Responsibility and accountability of online platforms

Meeting with Věra Jourová (Vice-President)

14 Jul 2020 · European Democracy Action Plan

Response to EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024

5 Feb 2020

(This online consultation is not open for 4 weeks as it should be) The Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2019 strongly prioritised human rights issues, with democracy mentioned only as a secondary issue in a few of listed actions. However, human rights and democracy are linked intrinsically. Democracy is a mechanism to organise and manage society built on fundamental freedoms. In societies where the democratic concept is not used as a basis for the development of structures and procedures of government and political decision-making, there is little chance that basic human rights will be respected. Therefore, we call on the EU to highlight the strong linkages between human rights and democracy in its new Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024 and to accord democracy support with the same importance as the protection of human rights receives. Recommendations: 1. Include a standalone chapter on “democracy support” The Action Plan should illustrate in a standalone chapter how the EU will promote democratic participation and accountability mechanisms, and their linkages to the sustainable protection of human rights. This should be separate from chapters on human rights institutions, justice systems, good governance mechanisms and civil society. 2. Ensure in a section of the “democracy support” chapter that the concept of “democratic rule”, as promoted by the EU, will be upgraded to “inclusive and effective democracy” in order to underscore the protection of human rights for all citizens In a section of the “democracy support” chapter the concept of the “rule of the people” should be defined as: an inclusive and effective democracy, in which minorities, disadvantaged and marginalised groups receive full protection of their human rights, and in which the authority of the democratic institutions serves the citizens. The democratic institutions should remain transparent and independent from economically powerful structures that go after private/power-related interests. 3. How the EU will support authentic political parties and pluralistic political party systems as centrepieces of inclusive and effective democracies needs should be described in section of the “democracy support” chapter A further section of the “democracy support” chapter, should describe how the EU will promote the development of legal and financial frameworks to underpin pluralistic political party systems and authentic democratic political parties. Competition between political parties, based on clear manifestos and on their internal democratic structures, controlled by their members, is the core of democratic systems. 4. Strengthen informative, pluralistic and independent media and build the capacities of citizens to better understand, verify and use the information that comes from various communication channels Systematic support for civic and political education has to become an important aspect of EU Human Rights and Democracy support. 5. In a separate chapter, the Action Plan should identify approaches to dealing with dangers for democracy and human rights from populism, the misuse and weakening of media, the destruction of the independence and authority of justice systems, the undermining of democratic processes by the unrestricted use of money 6. The areas of “rule of law” and “justice systems” as core elements of inclusive and effective democracies should be given more attention If basic human rights are enshrined in the constitution of a country but are not accompanied by implementing legislation, or if the legislation exists but is not enforced by public administrations, the protection of human rights, especially those of disadvantaged or marginalised groups, is not secured. 7. The capacity for civil society organisations to work with and strengthen authentic democratic parties and legitimate bodies of representative democracy in their policy participation and monitoring functions has to be strengthened.
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