A call to European leaders
Do not cut resilience in
the EU budget
13th October, 2026
Make the resources match the ambition
On 10 October, the Council published its plans for negotiation around the European budget (Multi-annual Financial Framework - MFF). The plans indicate an intention to cut funding for defending democracy, countering disinformation, media, journalism, and civic engagement. At a time when Europe and its Member States are under attack, funding for resilience must be increased, not decreased.
Europe is facing continuous hybrid warfare, with information manipulation and interference aiming to destabilise the EU’s social fabric and disintegrate its ability to act in its own defence. Europe's tech sovereignty, economic competitiveness, and ability to hold its own on the world stage depend on the ability to take strategic decisions. Autocrats and oligarchs know full well that those decisions can be undermined through manipulation. With rapidly shifting geopolitics and impacts of accelerating AI ongoing, budget choices will have outsized impacts.
Funding democratic engagement, pluralistic media, resilient cultural creation, citizen engagement and participation, and whole-of-society action to counter and disrupt hostile influence operation - these are not a nice-to-have luxuries. They are the essential foundations of resilience and security. Without these, effective defence, sovereignty, innovation, and competitiveness are not possible.
The proposed cuts affect programmes including AgoraEU, the European Competitiveness Fund, and Global Europe - exactly the funds intended to achieve Europe’s major strategic goals. And yet, whereas cuts do not achieve any significant cost savings, they will do harm. The AgoraEU cuts represent a saving of 0.2% of the overall budget. The costs saved are negligible, yet the damage to Europe’s resilience would be exponential and potentially irreversible.
Therefore, we call on European leaders in the EU Council and European Parliament to:
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Prevent cuts to the AgoraEU programme. Commit at least to the European Commission proposal, and move towards the European Parliament’s proposed increase.
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Ensure ambitious mainstreaming of democratic resilience funding across MFF programmes, as foreseen in the EU Democracy Shield communication, including under the “Global Europe” and "Competitiveness, prosperity and security” budget headings. Reinforce those commitments regardless of changes in funding levels.
Europe faces historic choices, and this EU budget will determine what will be achieved - whether Europeans will be dominated by oligarchs, autocrats, and extremists, or whether they will be able to innovate and carve out their own path in freedom and prosperity. Decisions on these details in the EU budget will make that difference, and history will be the judge.
Signatories
Omri Preiss, Director, Alliance4Europe
Evelien Nieuwenburg-Theuns, President / Co-Founder, ACTE / dembrane
Alexandru Giboi, Secretary General, The European Alliance Of News Agencies (EANA)
Robin Wauters, Co-Driver, EU-INC
Mauritius Dorn, Director of Public Affairs, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD)
Ally Dunhill, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications, Eurochild
Camila Ferro, Head of International Partnerships, Free Press Unlimited
Marco Giufre, Communication Manager, The Good Lobby
Rebecca Bonello Ghio, Projects & Policy Officer, European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Helen Mason, Executive Director, Child Helpline International
Aagje Ieven, Secretary General, Missing Children Europe
Tomas Kazulenas, Co-Founder, Civic Resilience Initiative
David Koranyi, Executive Director, Action for Democracy
Milica Pesic, Executive Director, Media Diversity Institute
Gian Paolo Accardo, Editor-in-Chief, Voxeurop
Stefanie Schiffer, CEO, Europäischer Austausch gGmbH
Raymond Amumpaire, Team Lead, Centre for Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance in Africa (CAIEGA)
Efthymis Antonopoulos, Policy and Advocacy Manager, Victim Support Europe
Eva King, Council for European Public Space
Marie Chapot, Child Friendly Justice European Network
Clemens Gellekum, Policy and Events Associate, Lie Detectors
Sebastian Bloching, Managing Director, elbarlament e.V.
Pieter van Boheemen, Director, Stichting Post-X Society
Mikhail Doroshevich, Editor-in-Chief, FactCheck.LT
Naula Glaise, President, Eurocadres
Elliott Goat, Co-Founder & Director, Unhack Democracy
Stefan Melle, Director, Dialogbüro Vienna
Eleonora Mongelli, Secretary General, Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)
Lassane Ouedraogo, Chairperson, Africa Solidarity Centre Ireland (ASCI)
Paul Salvanès, CEO, Voxeurop
Maja Sever, President, Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ)
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Peter Spiess-Knafl, Founder, Zeitkapsl
Nicolae Tibrigan, President, New Data Academy Association
Gijs van Beek, CBDO, Textgain
Xavier Dutoit, CxO, Fix the status quo
Sylvain Gardel, Member of the Board, CH++
Ana Otilia Nutu, Board Member/Senior Policy Analyst, Expert Forum (EFOR)
Jordan Ricker, COO, opsci.ai
Paula Akyol, Project Director, Children of Prisoners Europe
Stephen Hutchings, Professor of Russian Studies, University of Manchester, UK
Xhemajl Avdyli, Program and Development Manager, Action for Democratic Society (ADS)
Vladimíra Čavojová, PhD., Slovak Academy of Sciences
Matthew J. Davis, PhD., Witnis/Stockholm University
Ulviya Hasanova, Senior Advocacy and Communication Officer, Diaspora in Action For Human Rights and Democracy
Martin Häuer, Dipl.-Ing. & IWE, Open Source Imaging Initiative e.V.
Pavel Havlicek, Research Fellow, Association for International Affairs (AMO)
Anca Montoro, Grant Manager, Context Romania
Robert van der Noordaa, Senior expert hybrid warfare and FIMI, Trollrensics
Sophie Pornschlegel, Senior Adviser, European Policy Centre
Stephan Schwahlen, Senior Advisor Philanthropy, Effektiv-Spenden.org
Mathilda Diaz, Policy Officer, QUEST (Quality Education in Europe for Sustainable Social Transformation)
Leonie Jozwiak, M.Sc./LL.M., Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Meriem Mahdhi, Researcher, CSOH
Peter Dubóczi, PhD, Independent
Radovan Geist, Media Manager, Researcher, Independent
Dave Levy, Independent
Ammaarah Nilafdeen, Researcher, Independent
Karolin Schwarz, Writer & Researcher, Independent
Aleks Vangjelofski, Founder, Aleks Vangjelofski Advisory
Rik Viergever, Entrepreneur, Independent
Our Mission and Vision
Alliance4Europe is committed to empowering citizens and strengthening democracy in Europe. We bring communities, networks and movements together to cooperate, develop impactful solutions, and launch campaigns that drive change.
