The National
Broadcasting Council

A joint Declaration by Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Ukraine on cooperation and mutual support in combating disinformation and multidimensional propaganda was signed on October 4, 2023, during the Warsaw Summit Against Disinformation. “Disinformation sets in motion mechanisms that pose a real threat to the information security, strategic security and sovereignty of states,” the signatories stressed.

The Declaration was signed by representatives of media regulators in Central and Eastern European and Baltic countries: the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania; the Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council; the Polish National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT); the Romania’s National Audiovisual Council; and the National Broadcasting Council of Ukraine.‌

“We are not helpless. There are laws established in our countries to fight disinformation, we just need to use them”, Maciej Świrski, chairman of the Polish National Broadcasting Council, stressed.

He added that in the case of Poland, Russia is pursuing three goals by means of professionally conducted disinformation activities: dividing Polish society into two warring tribes; arousing Poles’ resentment against their own country so that they submit to Russian domination; and seeking to weaken Poland through its alienation in NATO.

Olha Herasymiuk, chairwoman of the National Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, pointed out that the Ukrainian experience of Russian aggression projects an understanding of what Kremlin propaganda is.‌

“Every day we fight not only against disinformation, but against the real enemy on the battlefields. We hope that this Declaration is the beginning of professional cooperation in the field of defense against disinformation,” Olha Herasymiuk noted.‌

Representatives of the regulators also stressed that the signing of the Declaration will provide certainty that freedom of speech and freedom of expression – elementary values of Western civilization – will protect societies and democracies and not threaten them.

The signatory states pledged in the Declaration to:

• protect the sovereignty and good name of states and the inviolability of their borders;
• protect freedom of speech, promote accountability for informing the public, protect journalists and media governance in accordance with territorial jurisdiction and the European legal framework; ‌
• safeguard citizens’ right to accurate and reliable information as an integral part of freedom of expression; protect the independence of media regulators;‌
• educate citizens about disinformation and propaganda by promoting the inclusion of media literacy as a mandatory subject in schools;‌
• comply with Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 14, 2018 on audiovisual media services.

The signatories pledge mutual support for efforts to analyze and contain the spread of multidimensional disinformation at the national, regional and international levels. In doing so, the primary goal is to strengthen capabilities to counter disinformation and information warfare not only in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States.

“Our joint actions must benefit all of Europe, producing direct results in supporting reliable information, protecting journalists and freedom of speech, without being used in bad faith to undermine our democracies,” the Declaration states.