The European Union is working on a law that will force non-governmental organizations, consulting groups and academic institutions to disclose any type of funding outside the EU as part of efforts to curb foreign influence in the bloc, three sources confirmed to Politico.
The Brussels portal points out that the planned law, which is in its early stages, resembles similar laws in Australia and the United States. In the US, the Foreign Agents Registration Act since 1938 has required lobbyists working on behalf of foreign governments to register with the federal government.
The targets of the EU version of the law, which should be finalized at the end of May, will likely not be individuals, but will force commercial and non-profit organizations within the bloc to disclose non-EU funding related to transactions such as paying for academic studies, he told " Politiko" European Commission official who wished to remain anonymous.
In recent years, Europe has come under attack from a series of operations to spread foreign influence - from Russian hacking campaigns and information leaks aimed at changing the outcome of elections, to Chinese grants to universities to shape rhetoric about human rights to the recent "Cathargate" corruption scandal that shook the European parliament.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen announced the "democracy defense" package during her State of the Union address last September, kicking off work on the foreign influence bill led by Justice Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova.
"Politico" points out that critics say that the timing is strange, to say the least, and point out that the EU stepped up work on the bill at the exact moment when protests broke out in Georgia over a similar law, which would force organizations to register as "agents of foreign influence". if more than 20 percent of their finances come from abroad.
"It is obviously a delicate issue," said the EC official. "We are still in the early stages of gathering information from a range of stakeholders to make sure we have the right approach."
Non-governmental organizations are already protesting because of the preliminary questionnaire they received on behalf of the Commission, which indicates the sensitivity of the topic, the portal states, adding that the questionnaire already asks respondents to provide details on funding sources outside the EU.
The question about finances "caught a lot of people off guard", Nick Aiosa from Transparency International (TI) told Politico that he answered questions from the questionnaire orally. "Based on the questions, one gets the impression that they were assessing whether TI is a threat to democracy."
Some NGOs have expressed concern that if Europe implements its version of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, it will be used by hardliners like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to deal with pro-democracy forces in their country.
In order to dispel fears, Jurova will hold several meetings with representatives of civic groups at the end of this week, the official said.
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