EU Democracy under attack: Party funding, the threat from third-countries. The study of Edoardo Bressanelli, assistant professor at the Dirpolis (Institute of Law, Politics, Development) of the Sant’Anna School, for the European Parliament

Investing in destabilisation: how foreign money is used to undermine democracy in the EU” is the new study that the European Parliament has commissioned to Edoardo Bressanelli, assistant professor in political science at the Dirpolis (Law, Politics and Development) Institute of the Sant’Anna School.

The study, which is freely available online, examines the issue of foreign interference in the European Union, with a particular focus on the foreign funding of political parties. This type of foreign interference is widely regarded as a major security threat, undermining the proper functioning of democracy. Indeed, in the last few years, the EU has significantly stepped up its efforts and strengthened the tools to contrast foreign interferences.

As Edoardo Bressanelli explains: “Most EU member states have in place regulations forbidding or, at least, limiting the foreign funding of political parties. Yet, a significant variation across countries still exists. At the level of the EU, instead, the recent reforms of the regulations on the funding of the Europarties and their associated foundations have outlawed party funding from abroad”.

Notwithstanding such regulatory changes, cases of party foreign funding have been reported in several member states: “foreign actors have skilfully exploited legal loopholes to channel funds or provide other types of support. To tackle this issue in a more effective way, a convergence of national regulatory regimes should be promoted, the transparency of party budgets improved, and the monitoring and sanctioning powers of the authorities regulating political parties – including that at the EU level – strengthened”.

This study – which supports the activity of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in All Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation (INGE) – delves deeper into the issue of foreign interference in the EU, which has been analysed in another recent study – prepared for the Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) – coordinated by Edoardo Bressanelli.

Gallery: Edoardo Bressanelli