Terheș: European security requires close cooperation between Member States, with a strengthened ability to work with NATO

Speaking ahead of the vote, ECR MEP and shadow rapporteur Cristian Terheș said that the report raises awareness at European level of the fact that societies can be targeted by an adversary through the manipulation of information to change perceptions and beliefs, as well as hearts and minds.

“Europe must become harder to manipulate, harder to destabilise and harder to coerce. European security requires close cooperation between the Member States and the EU, while strengthening our ability to work with NATO”, Terheș said in the debate on Tuesday.

Other key achievements of the ECR Group include stronger references to cognitive warfare, cognitive vulnerabilities, and reflexive control as elements of hostile influence operations. During the negotiations, ECR shadow rapporteur Cristian Terheș safeguarded explicit recognition of the misuse of the Russian Orthodox Church and religious networks as instruments of Russian hybrid warfare and foreign information manipulation.

“The most sophisticated form of malign interference is not forcing people to act but making them believe that the decision they are making is entirely their own.

“This is, in essence, what reflexive control does. It is a concept developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War that seeks to shape a society’s information environment so that an adversary can influence a decision-maker without that person even realising it,” he said.

The ECR Group also secured stronger recognition of the security challenges facing the Eastern Flank and the Mediterranean, as well as the importance of protecting critical infrastructure, including its maritime dimension.

At the same time, the ECR succeeded in moderating several provisions in the report to ensure that Europe’s response to hybrid threats remains firmly anchored in NATO, national sovereignty, and transatlantic cooperation.