“The level of threat of foreign interference is at a high stage in a tense and uninhibited international context,” say the parliamentarians in their annual report.
An alarming report. Foreign interference in France has become a threat “protean, omnipresent and durable”, from espionage to the use of cyber space or information manipulation operations. Russia and China are the main players, estimate four deputies and four senators in the annual report of the parliamentary intelligence delegation.
“The level of threats of foreign interference is at a high stage in a tense and uninhibited international context”, estimate the authors. If the intelligence services can use “to various means of obstruction to thwart foreign interference”these tools do not “are not sufficient on their own in the long term”they decide.
To strengthen their arsenal, parliamentarians propose the establishment of a “ad hoc legislative mechanism for preventing foreign interference modeled on American law” or recourse to the asset freezing procedure “to any person or structure engaging in actions detrimental to the maintenance of national cohesion or intended to promote the interests of a foreign power”.
Change “radical of the geopolitical context”
They also suggest “a European response” and believe that these different measures could be grouped together “in a bill dedicated to the fight against foreign interference”. The delegation notes that this threat has taken on a new dimension in recent years, primarily due to a change “radical of the geopolitical context”.
The authors cite Russia as an important actor and describe its modus operandi. Among them are infiltration and espionage, the appointment to the boards of directors of large Russian groups of former European leaders, such as former Prime Minister François Fillon or former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, manipulation of the information, coupled “frequent interference in electoral processes”. China, another active actor, has the operational mode “the united front”, a “political strategy and a network of public and private institutions and key individuals, placed under the control of the Chinese Communist Party”. Among its levers of action, we include “the use of diasporas, the use of the media, the capture of economic and scientific data, economic predation”.
“Other foreign powers resort to interference actions, whether for example Turkey through the lever of religious practice, but also Iran and other states in the Maghreb and the Gulf”, underline the authors. Interference can also come from France’s allies, via various methods of operation, “used in particular by the United States of America to capture data and undermine our economic security.”