Europe’s Democratic Resilience Under Pressure
The European Union faces persistent threats to information integrity, such as disinformation, foreign interference, and manipulative influence operations. These threats undermine elections, trust in the news media, and democratic participation.
The EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will determine whether Europe chooses to invest in its democratic resilience or opts to leave civil society structurally weakened.
On 19 February 2026, EU DisinfoLab will organise a webinar “How to unlock more EU funding for 2028-2034 to counter disinformation?” intended exclusively for civil society, including non-profit, academics, and researchers working on countering disinformation.
What is AgoraEU in the MFF?
The MFF is the EU’s seven-year budget plan; it sets the overall spending ceilings and defines priorities across broad policy areas. The upcoming MFF will cover the period from 2028 to 2034.
Within this framework, the proposed AgoraEU programme presents a unique opportunity to provide long-term support for safeguarding the information space. Initially drafted by the European Commission, this programme can be amended by the European Parliament and, collectively, the EU Member States.
This amendment process will mostly take place in 2026, with the MFF as a whole expected to be finally approved in 2027.
What is missing in AgoraEU?
The key improvements that could be made to the current AgoraEU proposal include:
- It should be about the information ecosystem, not only about news.
Fighting “disinformation” is still primarily framed as funding for media, journalists and media literacy, with civil society organisations included only under broader resilience or civic engagement categories.
- It should tackle the root of the problem, not the consequences
The proposal fails to fully and explicitly acknowledge the problems that affect media due to the algorithms designed by online platforms, nor the problems caused by the duopoly in the online advertising market.
- It should be ambitious and focused on structural problems
Efforts to fight disinformation should not be focused only around election cycles, as it is a structural problem. - It should be coherent with the Democracy Shield and other EU priorities
New initiatives are coming from the Commission, such as the Democracy Shield and its Centre for democratic resilience, which also includes a role for civil society, but it is not clear where in Agora these initiatives will be funded.
What can be done to improve AgoraEU?
1. Explicitly focusing on funding the democratic information ecosystem
The protection of the information space demands broader efforts than simply support for news media. AgoraEU should clearly identify civil society counter-disinformation actors as a dedicated support pillar, in order to:
- Enable targeted and sustainable support to prevent harmful competition with the needed funding for media;
- Reduce Europe’s reliance on non-European philanthropy and funding from platforms;
- Strengthen AgoraEU as a key instrument for implementing the Democracy Shield.
2. Extend anti-SLAPP protection and support beyond journalists
As the recent travel bans against HateAid, GDI and CCDH leadership illustrate, civil society actors face growing legal harassment, transnational attacks, and targeted restrictions aimed at silencing calls for accountability.
AgoraEU must protect not only journalists and media outlets, but also:
- Civil Society Organisations
- Researchers and monitoring groups
- Investigative and analytical networks
3. Enable independent, multiannual core funding mechanisms for solid EU resilience
AgoraEU should include long-term structural funding to ensure civil society stability and autonomy. One model to consider is an EU mechanism inspired by the European Endowment for Democracy, but for safeguarding the information environment inside Europe
This would establish a permanent, independently governed endowment that:
- Provides flexible, multiannual support beyond short-term project cycles
- Strengthens researchers, watchdogs, civic tech actors, and investigative networks
- Operates at arm’s length from EU institutions through an independent expert board
- Reinforces Europe’s strategic sovereignty by reducing reliance on non-European funding
If you are interested in contributing to this work, we would be happy to explore partnership or cooperation opportunities with you, especially in support of improving AgoraEU. Contact us through our contact form available at the end of this page.