Sittings · Document
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
9.9.2026 A10-0199/58
Amendment 58
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 4a. Stresses that Russia constitutes the principal and most persistent state threat to the security, sovereignty and democratic resilience of Europe; underlines that Russia’s aggression, coercion and interference cannot be understood as isolated consequences of the current regime, but form part of a long-standing pattern of Russian imperial policy, manifested under Tsarist, Soviet and Putinist rule through military aggression, violations of sovereignty, political subversion and attempts to dominate neighbouring states; considers that European policy towards Russia must therefore be based on strategic realism rather than on recurring illusions of normalisation or a ‘reset’; calls for an honest assessment of the political, economic and institutional decisions that have led to Europe’s excessive dependence on Russia, including past attempts to pursue privileged political and economic relations with Moscow despite repeated warnings from Member States most exposed to Russian aggression; stresses that such policies have undermined European solidarity, contributed to strategic dependencies and provided the Kremlin with additional resources and leverage; insists that there must be no return to ‘business as usual’ with Russia and that any future relationship must be conditional on a fundamental and verified change in Russian conduct, full respect for international law and the sovereignty of neighbouring states; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/59
Amendment 59
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 4b. Condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s continuing hybrid war against Europe, including sabotage of critical infrastructure, cyberattacks, espionage, FIMI, covert financing and corruption, election interference, the recruitment of proxies and saboteurs, transnational repression, intimidation of European citizens and public officials, and the abuse of international legal and law-enforcement instruments for political purposes; stresses that these activities constitute elements of a coordinated strategy aimed at weakening European states, dividing their societies, undermining democratic institutions and reducing their capacity to resist Russian aggression; calls for a substantially stronger policy of deterrence; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/60
Amendment 60
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 c (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 4c. Underlines that the experience and threat assessments of Member States that have for decades warned against Russian imperialism, particularly Poland and the Baltic States, must be taken seriously in shaping European security policy; stresses that deterrence, resilience, strong national defence capabilities, secure critical infrastructure and unwavering support for states threatened or attacked by Russia must take precedence over short-term economic interests or attempts to accommodate the Kremlin; concludes that defending European democracy requires confronting the source of the threat rather than repeating policies that have underestimated it; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/61
Amendment 61
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 6a. Stresses that the establishment of any permanent or autonomous EU body in the field of democratic resilience must be based on a clear and appropriate legal basis in the Treaties and must fully respect the principles of conferral, subsidiarity and proportionality; considers that no such body should be established or endowed with new powers before these requirements have been demonstrated; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/62
Amendment 62
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 13a. Calls for the annual rule of law report to include appropriate scrutiny of rule-of-law, integrity, transparency and accountability safeguards, as well as of corruption and checks and balances, within the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies themselves; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/63
Amendment 63
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 13b. Condemns the use of double standards by EU institutions in their assessment of democracy, the rule of law and the actions of Member States defending the EU’s external borders; recalls that funds lawfully due to Poland were withheld for an extended period and subsequently released following a change of government, despite the absence of a corresponding change in the applicable legal framework, raising serious concerns that financial instruments were used as a means of political pressure rather than on the basis of objective and consistent legal criteria; further expresses serious concern that actions affecting public media, institutional checks and balances and legal certainty following the change of government in Poland have not been subjected to the same level of scrutiny as previously applied to that Member State; rejects the use of EU funding, monitoring mechanisms, institutional pressure or selective political narratives as instruments of partisan leverage, and stresses that Member States protecting the EU against hybrid attacks must receive solidarity rather than politically motivated double standards; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/64
Amendment 64
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 13c. Recalls, moreover, the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border, where Poland was confronted with a coordinated hybrid operation by the Belarusian regime involving the deliberate instrumentalisation of migration as a means of political pressure and destabilisation; deplores the fact that legitimate measures taken by Poland to protect the EU’s external border were repeatedly portrayed by certain EU institutions, political actors and publicly funded organisations primarily through false allegations of human rights violations, while insufficient attention was paid to the responsibility of the regimes in Minsk and Moscow; warns that such one-sided narratives risk undermining the security efforts of frontline Member States and can be exploited by hostile actors as part of broader disinformation and destabilisation campaigns; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/65
Amendment 65
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 d (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 13d. Recalls the controversy surrounding the Commission’s defence of Pablo González, alias Pavel Rubtsov, who was identified by the Polish authorities as an agent of Russian military intelligence acting under journalistic cover; regrets that, despite numerous calls for it to do so, the Commission never corrected its unfounded and unjust accusations against the Polish Government in its rule of law report; insists that the credibility of the EU’s rule-of-law and democratic-resilience policies requires identical standards, legal criteria and scrutiny, regardless of which political forces govern a Member State; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/66
Amendment 66
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 34a. Stresses that freedom of expression, media freedom and political pluralism are indispensable foundations of democracy and must not be weakened on the pretext of countering the spread of disinformation; warns that public authorities, EU institutions, regulatory bodies, platforms or publicly supported fact-checking structures must not become arbiters of political truth or acquire, directly or indirectly, the power to determine which lawful opinions may participate in democratic debate; insists that lawful political speech, journalistic activity and legitimate dissent must not be censored, suppressed, de-amplified, demonetised or otherwise disadvantaged on the basis of political, ideological or contested assessments of what constitutes disinformation; rejects any mechanism that could result in viewpoint discrimination, direct or indirect censorship, political pressure on media or platforms, or the creation of privileged categories of officially approved information sources; underlines that the protection of democracy can only be credible if it begins with the protection of citizens’ freedom to hear, express and debate competing views, including views that are controversial, unpopular or critical of the EU institutions themselves; |
Or. en
9.9.2026 A10-0199/67
Amendment 67
Beata Szydło, Mariusz Kamiński
on behalf of the ECR Group
Report A10-0199/2026
Tomas Tobé
Findings and recommendations of the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield
(2025/2069(INI))
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49 a (new)
| Motion for a resolution | Amendment |
| 49a. Expresses serious concern that EU funding for media, journalism, fact-checking and civil-society organisations may create financial dependence on the institutions whose policies and narratives those organisations are expected to scrutinise; stresses that public funding must never be used, directly or indirectly, to build a privileged ecosystem of organisations that amplify institutional policy positions while marginalising, disadvantaging or excluding legitimate critical voices; condemns any practice whereby access to EU funding is influenced by political alignment, editorial orientation or willingness to support particular policy narratives; calls for full transparency of all relevant grants, beneficiaries, subcontractors, selection criteria, evaluation procedures, lobbying and advocacy activities financed with EU funds, and any links between funded organisations and EU institutions; insists on genuine political neutrality, arm’s-length allocation of funding and equal treatment of organisations irrespective of their political, ideological or editorial positions; underlines that the EU cannot credibly defend media pluralism and democratic debate while simultaneously financing actors in a manner that risks rewarding conformity with its own political priorities; |
Or. en