STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PROCESS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

Information is a very valuable weapon, with its help you can manipulate, you can change behaviors and actions. Also the Internet makes the process of communication at the mass level amplifies the speed dissemination, which further accentuates the influence. Since 2015, the EU has worked actively to reduce the impact of disinformation. The European Parliament has consistently pushed for adequate staff and adequate resources for the task force. This resulted in the formation of a team called the East StratCom Team. This team has developed, in cooperation with the EU institutions and the Member States, the Action Plan. The creation of the East StratCom working group was aimed at countering Russian disinformation. At the same time, another StratCom interinstitutional working group was created, which aimed to address the phenomenon of radicalization in the Arab world using public diplomacy and communications. In this article we aim to analyze how the implementation of the Action Plan is working in the EU and witch are the results since 2015 till now. Also we analyze the pandemic and its role in the accessibility of measures to combat fake news and how EU took action to combat COVID-19 disinformation. Although the East StratCom working group has taken important steps and the sites to combat fake news and the Code of Practice have also brought quantifiable results on this front, the EU is still failing to combat Russian misinformation and propaganda. As a general conclusion, we believe that the European Union has shown through the steps initiated that it knows what needs to be done to implement and use strategic communication effectively, but, to date, it has been limited in finding an effective solution.