Requested by President von der Leyen, the Opinion will guide the Commission in its efforts to address challenges to democracy and to foster it.
Vice-President Šuica said:
“The EGE urges us to look beyond elections and reflect on democracy in a deeper way. We should enable and invite people to participate more actively in public deliberation and decision-making. The EGE’s Opinion encourages us all in our efforts to continue working on strengthening Europe’s democracies, in the challenging geopolitical and technological context of today.”
In its Opinion, the EGE recognises the importance of innovation and technology in supporting democracy. However, it also highlights the risks posed by current and emerging socio-technical arrangements, including the spread of false or manipulative information on public debate, elections, and society as a whole. The EGE examines different aspects of privacy and the shrinking space for individuals to act autonomously, focusing on surveillance and the discrimination it enables. The Opinion also raises concerns about technology corporations expanding into the public sector, lack of fair benefits for the public, increased power of commercial entities in setting agendas, and growing dependencies on them for essential public goods.
As these developments threaten the values that a democratic system aims to uphold, the EGE argues that strengthening democracy, as the form of government best suited to realise fundamental rights and core values, is an ethical necessity. The Opinion concludes with a set of recommendations which develop pathways for how this can, collectively and democratically, be further translated into reality. They pertain to: