Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo said that the country’s authorities have opened an investigation on alleged Russian interference in the European Parliament (most of its work takes place in Brussels, the capital of Belgium). According to said from De Croo the investigation would concern a Russian propaganda network, whose members would also have paid some European parliamentarians from various countries. The objective of the propaganda network behind the alleged payments would be to favor the election of pro-Russian parliamentarians in the European elections scheduled for June.
MEPs must adhere to a rather strict code of ethics and rules regarding their independence. TO the end of March the Belgian and Czech authorities had discovered that a news site based in the Czech Republic, Voice of Europe, was part of a Russian propaganda network. Several European parliamentarians had been interviewed on the site: according to what De Croo said during a parliamentary hearing, some of them were paid to spread pro-Russian disinformation. The site has been closed.
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