On April 13, a number of major daily newspapers warned under the headline: A campaign of Russian political influence threatens Europe! Le Figaro carried a full-page headline: the spectre of Russian interference in the European elections. With the headline: "L''UE passe à l''offensive" ("The EU goes on the offensive"). And with plenty of references to Belgian, Czech, Polish and British judicial inquiries.
We rub our eyes and wonder if we''re dreaming. Russian interference? In an electoral process where, among the parties and candidates of Old Europe, it''s hard to see which would dare, even timidly, to declare themselves "pro-Russian"? Are you joking? No, it''s not. The European Union, we read, "has beefed up its legislative arsenal" against disinformation (who''s going to define it?), notably by obliging digital services to block political advertising "sponsored by entities outside the EU" - while, at the same time, the US Aid agency floods European countries from the former Socialist bloc with "interference".
The icing on the cake: "national networks", we learn, "work in concert with the EU and NATO" against the spread of "fake news". For those who know the equation (anti-NATO = pro-fake news), the die is cast. Requiem for a defunct freedom of expression (E.R.)