A top State Security official on Friday stressed the importance of sensitising key personalities, including political and economic decision-makers, elected officials, researchers and members of diasporas, to the risk of foreign interference.
“It is important to know that there is interference. If there is this awareness, half the work is done,” Peter Lanssens, director of analysis, explained at a hearing before the Senate’s Democratic Renewal and International Affairs Committee.
The Senate has begun work on an information report on “the fight against interference by foreign powers, aimed at undermining the foundations of the democratic rule of law.”
Between lobbying and manipulation...
The recent revelations concerning the European Parliament have brought the subject to the forefront. However, that case involves corruption allegations against elected representatives, which is exceptional. Foreign interference is more generally confined to a grey area, around work that oscillates between lobbying and manipulation.
“The line between lobbying and diplomacy is sometimes blurred. It is difficult to have a legal definition,” said Dirk Janvier, divisional commissioner at the General Intelligence and Security Service, SGRS. A person – for example an elected official – can be the target of a patient build-up, lasting several years, that starts with an invitation to a reception, then to lunch, then to a study trip, etc.
The victim may even be unaware of this and defend the position of a foreign power without realising that they have been manipulated, and once the target realises this, it is often too late to back out.
The draft new criminal code should, however, provide a clearer framework for intelligence services, since, under certain conditions, interference will be punishable when national interests are at stake.
Special attention for Russia, China, and home countries
Upcoming events that are of particular interest to the intelligence services include the elections for the Belgian presidency of the European Union in 2024. Before the 2019 elections, a meeting was held with party presidents to make them aware of the issue, and that experience will be repeated before the next elections.
Russia has been the subject of particular attention, certainly since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, with a heightened focus, for example, on the influence it exerts through the Orthodox church.
The focus is also on China, notably in important economic structures, as well as on countries with a diaspora in Belgium.
The cautionary advice is also aimed at everyday routines, starting with mobile phones, which are very easy to break into. “Nobody is protected. Above all, no sensitive discussions or exchange of sensitive information on the phone,” Lanssens warned.
