The European Lesson on Election Integrity: from Countering Disinformation to Promoting inclusivity.

The defence of democracy and the danger of autocratic degeneration in European States require reflection on elections as a constitutive dimension of every political institution in the contemporary era. This issue assumes particular significance in a post-democratic context, where elections are perceived by citizens as increasingly irrelevant [Sampugnaro, 2024], resulting in a rise in abstentionism [Norris, P. & Grömping, M., 2019; Fortin-Rittberger et al., 2017; Martinez i Coma et al., 2017; Addeo et al., 2024]. Simultaneously, power and symbolic resources are concentrated in non-elected supranational bodies and multinational companies, particularly within the digital domain. These assumptions form the basis of the EU approach to election integrity (EI), which this study aims to reconstruct, by starting from the actions of the European Commission, while also assessing the effectiveness of measures introduced over the last 10 years. The EI paradigm has been developed as part of measures to combat disinformation emanating from foreign actors. The programme is gradually becoming more autonomous, and while it proposes specific measures (e.g. cybersecurity, targeting, etc.), it also provides room to reconsider the characteristics of a democracy based on citizens who are "engaged, informed and empowered" and on inclusion of traditionally marginalised groups such as minorities, people with disabilities and movers [COM2023_630 FINAL_12.12.2023]. The EU's concept is ambitious and complex due to its focus on the conditions that can "protect" voting from attempts at algorithmic manipulation or alteration of pluralism. It is imperative that election campaigns must be subject to stringent regulation to prevent the manipulation of content, particularly through the utilisation of AI, thereby ensuring that election outcomes are not influenced by parties and candidates with greater economic resources. EI, in its development, has evolved from a focus on the mechanics of voting (organisation of elections, electoral laws, facilities for non-residents, etc.) to encompass broader systemic issues. It has become intertwined with limitations in terms of organisation and regulation, as well as objective restrictions on the exercise of voting rights. Instead, electoral integrity has become an objective linked to the possibility of exercising civil rights such as freedom of expression and movement, access to unmanipulated information that facilitates more informed decision-making, and the capacity to engage in political life beyond electoral processes (De Gregorio 2022). The new regulatory framework is not merely protective, but rather it fosters a sophisticated conception of citizenship, intertwined with the democratic rights of free access to balanced and fact-based information (Isin et al. 2020). N ovel paradigm of EI is gradually taking shape, one that surpasses the approaches put forth by prominent international institutions. This emerging concept can be characterised as programmatic in nature, addressing Member States through the medium of moral suasion, complemented by recommendations and self-regulation codes (Sampugnaro & Trenz 2024). Notwithstanding these premises, this laborious "fine-tuning" of a policy that is visionary in some respects should be regarded as positive insofar as it encourages states – as was evidenced in the European elections – to reconsider elections in a different way and to effect changes in national legislation.