EU ministers have marked the start of work on a new European Centre for Democratic Resilience, designed to help member states respond to foreign information manipulation and disinformation.
Ministers were invited by the Commission and the Council Presidency to note the launch at a meeting of the General Affairs Council, the Commission announced on Tuesday.
The Centre is described as a flagship initiative under the European Democracy Shield, a package presented by the Commission in November 2025.
“In a world where information is increasingly weaponised to undermine our democracies, we are taking action,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“With the European Centre for Democratic Resilience, we will level up our collective capacity to counter foreign information manipulation and disinformation,” she added.
Michael McGrath, the Commissioner responsible for democracy, justice and the rule of law, is set to discuss with ministers how the centre can support sharing expertise and developing responses to “common threats.”
First-year priorities and who will be involved
Priority areas for the first year include developing tools to support “resilient elections” and producing an EU “blueprint” to counter foreign information manipulation and interference — known as FIMI — and disinformation.
The Commission said the centre will also launch a stakeholder platform bringing together civil society organisations, think tanks, researchers, academics, fact-checkers and media organisations.
Other planned work includes capacity-building and “mutual learning” between member states, and exploring cooperation with EU candidate countries and potential candidates.
The Commission added it will organise two citizens’ panels this year on preparedness and on building democratic resilience.
Survey respondents cited growing public distrust towards democratic institutions and processes as one of the most serious challenges to democracy in the EU (49%), followed by foreign information manipulation, interference and disinformation including around elections (42%), according to a Special Eurobarometer poll.
