January 2023
Tatiana Mindeková, EUROPEUM
Introduction
The European Green Deal (EGD) is the core of the current climate strategy of the European Union, which has set the goal of making Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050. To reach this ambition, changes across all sectors of the economy and society are needed. The transformation cannot be accomplished without strong political will and informed, public support. However, the EGD has become a popular target of disinformation and has been incorporated into various Eurosceptic disinformation narratives, undermining the possibility of a balanced discussion on the topic and of mobilizing the vital backing of the population. Moreover, the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine and the ongoing energy crisis have brought new dimensions into the EGD discussion, while simultaneously strengthening the need for improving the energy sovereignty of the EU.
In an effort to monitor and counter disinformation narratives about the EDG, IRI's Beacon project launched an initiative called the “European Green Deal: Mapping perceptions in Central and Eastern Europe,” in which six partner organizations studied how the EGD is perceived in Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. As one of the partner organizations, the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy analyzed narratives spread about the Green Deal and the EU’s green policies through Czech chain emails as well as through selected mainstream media and websites known for spreading disinformation. The main aim of this research project was to gain insights into how the EGD is communicated in the online space and what narratives are most commonly spread through the selected channels, in an effort to improve communication strategies regarding the EU’s green issues. In addition, the research also examined what role the phenomenon of chain emails plays in the spread of disinformation about the EU and its climate policies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and whether the narratives appearing in these emails differ from those on disinformation websites or in the mainstream media.
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This policy paper has been prepared with support from IRI's Beacon Project. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of IRI