Event

Parliaments in dialogue: Resisting political interference

This event hosted by UK think tank RUSI discusses foreign financing and democratic resilience in the UK and the EU.

The European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom and the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI are delighted to welcome First Vice-President Sabine Verheyen MEP, Liam Byrne MP and Lisa Smart MP to RUSI for a public discussion on the growing challenge posed by the financing of political interference by outsiders. This event is the second in a new ‘Parliaments in Dialogue’ series organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK in partnership with RUSI and other leading UK-based think tanks.

Political interference is an increasingly acute challenge for democratic states, and such interference is often financed by foreign elements and/or in illicit or dubious ways. In the UK, the recent Rycroft Review highlighted the role of covert financial flows in supporting foreign interference, calling for a more coordinated response across intelligence, regulatory and financial systems.

At the EU level, efforts to strengthen democratic resilience – reflected in European Parliament scrutiny initiatives such as the European Democracy Shield – underscore the need to address how illicit finance, opaque ownership structures and emerging technologies are being used to attempt to shape political outcomes.

This discussion, organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom in cooperation with RUSI and chaired by CFS Director Tom Keatinge, forms part of a shared mission to bring together parliamentary leaders in the EU and UK to find answers to common challenges to democracy and security.