Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 4

Changed12.14. Calls on the Commission,Member inStates to maintain close cooperationcontact with the EEAS,diasporas most susceptible to adoptTNR; acalls whole-of-EUon approachthe ensuringCommission coordinationto provide guidance and informationrecommendations sharing;to the Member States on how to protect at-risk groups in exile;

Change 5

RemovedStrengthening protection and support for persons targeted by TNR

Added15. Calls on the Member States to provide specialised training for law enforcement, the judicial, financial, cybersecurity, immigration and asylum authorities on identifying and responding to TNR; calls on the Member States to include affected communities in the design and implementation of this training;

Removed13. Calls for a comprehensive, victim-centred approach to TNR;

Added16. Urges the establishment of a comprehensive framework to address the fragmentation of national responses and ensure coordination and information-sharing across EU institutions and agencies, Member States, national human rights institutions, and relevant stakeholders; stresses the need for strengthened inter-service cooperation and structured policy dialogue in order to ensure a consistent and effective EU response;

Removed14. Calls on the Member States to recognise psychosocial harm as an integral feature of TNR;

Added17. Invites Member States to designate national contact points on TNR tasked with coordinating between relevant authorities at all levels;

Removed15. Calls on the Member States to recognise lawfare as a form of TNR and to ensure access to effective, proportionate and enforceable remedies;

Added18. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate regular exchange between Member States through a network of those national contact points on TNR, enabling them to share experiences, trends, good practices and lessons learned; calls for the national contact points to be regularly invited to meetings of the European Centre for Democratic Resilience; calls on the Member States to ensure systematic reporting on national-level developments to the Commission and strengthen coordination of national measures with a view to more effectively addressing the cross-border dimension of TNR;

Removed16. Calls on law-enforcement and security authorities to establish sustained outreach and trusted communication channels with communities affected by TNR;

Added19. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to publish an annual public report on TNR affecting the EU, assessing trends, patterns and emerging risks, including under-reported forms such as digital surveillance, financial repression, administrative harassment, and coercion-by-proxy;

Removed17. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt gender-sensitive protection measures for women affected by TNR;

Added20. Calls on the Commission to make a proposal to update the mandates of Europol and Eurojust to counter TNR more effectively; calls on Europol and Eurojust to prioritise close cooperation and information exchange among EU Member States to address TNR and ensure better information sharing, including via dedicated training, as well as targeted TNR threat assessments;

Removed18. Calls on the EEAS to update the EU action plan on human rights and democracy and the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders to explicitly address TNR;

Added21. Calls on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the EEAS to strengthen coordination within existing EU foreign policy instruments in order to counter TNR more effectively, including by reinforcing EU presence in non-EU countries and by strengthening focal points in EU Delegations to raise cases of TNR in non-EU countries;

RemovedPreventing and responding to specific forms of TNR

Added22. Calls on the Council to appoint a coordinator for countering TNR, who could serve as a central contact point and contribute to the development of an overarching EU strategy on TNR; considers that this coordinator should be involved in and complement the work of the European Centre for Democratic Resilience;

Added23. Emphasises that all data collection, victim support, protection measures and all other mechanisms aimed at tackling TNR should consider the specific risks faced by racial, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTIQ+ persons, and should be culturally competent and systematically consider gendered impacts and intersecting vulnerabilities;

AddedStrengthening protection and support for persons targeted by transnational repression

Added24. Calls for a comprehensive, victim-centred and intersectional approach to protection and support for persons targeted by TNR, combining immediate and long-term protection measures, and tailored support for persons at heightened risk; calls, in this context, on the Commission and the Member States to adopt gender-sensitive protection measures for women and LGBTIQ+ communities affected by TNR;

Added25. Highlights the needs for prevention, protection, stabilisation, accountability and deterrence, and the need to address existing protection gaps, including access to legal and administrative assistance, and psychosocial support; further stresses the need to develop rapid response capabilities within the competent authorities;

Added26. Highlights the serious psychological, social and security consequences of TNR for victims and their families; calls on the Member States to recognise psychosocial harm as an integral feature of TNR and to ensure access to multilingual, and trauma-informed mental health support; recalls in that respect the consequences and psychological burden caused by strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) on journalists or legal pressure on academics;

Added27. Calls on the Member States to recognise the abuse of legal systems as a form of TNR and to ensure that victims of TNR have access to specialised legal assistance, as well as effective, proportionate and enforceable remedies and reparations, including compensation and reimbursement by the perpetrators, of legal costs resulting from abusive or vexatious proceedings;

Added28. Calls on the Member States to provide targeted support enabling persons targeted by TNR to continue their professional and civic activities, and to ensure effective and timely protection for those who choose to publicly document or report abuses; welcomes, in this respect, the EU anti-SLAPP directive; is of the opinion that similar measures should be taken to protect academic freedom from external pressure;

Added29. Calls on law-enforcement and security authorities to establish sustained outreach and trusted communication channels with communities affected by TNR and community liaison structures, in order to raise awareness, facilitate safe reporting and improve understanding of evolving TNR patterns, including conduct falling below criminal thresholds;

Added30. Calls for the EU and its Member States to recognise and support affected individuals and communities as key first responders; recognises the role of exiled journalists as key allies in countering authoritarian propaganda and foreign information manipulation and interference; calls on the Commission to operationalise the EU Civil Society Strategy, and encourages better cooperation and information-sharing between civil society and EU institutions and Member States;

Added31. Calls on the EEAS to update the EU action plan on human rights and democracy and the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders to explicitly address TNR, including protection and support for human rights defenders in exile and diaspora communities;

Added32. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure predictable funding for such support for victims, including under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (NDICI), Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) and Horizon Europe;

AddedPreventing and responding to specific forms of transnational repression

Physical TNR

Change 6

Removed19. Calls for an EU framework to be established to address the cross-border nature of physical TNR;

Added33. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to develop new or adapt existing mechanisms to address the cross-border nature of physical TNR, including surveillance, coercion, assaults, and attempted abductions, to ensure such acts are systematically identified, investigated, and treated as state-linked repression rather than isolated criminal offences;

Digital and technology-enabled TNR

Change 7

Removed20. Calls for the EU and its Member States to recognise, prevent and counter digital forms of TNR including their gendered dimension;

Added34. Calls for the EU and its Member States to recognise, prevent and counter digital forms of TNR such as censorship, disinformation, smear campaigns, online harassment and intimidation, facilitated by mechanisms enabled by online platforms, including engagement-based recommender systems, fake accounts and bot networks; stresses the need to recognise the specific challenge of gender-based digital TNR and the particular consequences of this type of repression for women targeted by TNR; calls on the Commission and Member States to take TNR into consideration within the enforcement of the existing framework of relevant EU legislation, including the Digital Services Act, the AI Act, and the Dual-Use Regulation, to ensure robust enforcement, stringent export controls, and accountability mechanisms;

Removed21. Calls for strong and consistent enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA);

Added35. Urges digital platforms to take effective action to mitigate and address digital TNR threats; calls on the Commission to assess whether digital TNR fits the criteria for inclusion under activities that have negative effects on ‘fundamental rights’ as defined by the Digital Services Act; calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to the impact of TNR in the forthcoming revisions of the guidelines in relation to risk assessment and mitigation measures applicable to very large online platforms, including by investigating the systemic risks posed by platforms such as WeChat and TikTok;

Removed22. Calls for digital TNR to be explicitly incorporated within the scope of ‘systemic risks’ under the DSA;

Added36. Expresses grave concern about the use of AI by non-EU countries and their proxies as a tool of TNR, including through AI-enabled digital surveillance, deployment of spyware, phishing and hacking attacks, doxxing, automated online harassment and coordinated disinformation campaigns on social media; calls on the Commission’s AI Office to further assess the impact of AI on TNR and to propose concrete safeguards to prevent the misuse of AI systems in ways that enable surveillance, coercion or repression across borders;

Removed23. Expresses deep concern about the use of spyware and surveillance technologies by third countries and their proxies;

Added37. Highlights that the right to secure and private communication is fundamental; strongly condemns the use of spyware and surveillance technologies by non-EU countries and their proxies against individuals in the EU; notes with concern documented cases involving private companies developing and exporting advanced spyware and digital surveillance tools used to commit TNR;

RemovedCoercion by proxy and family-based repression

Added38. Recalls the report by its PEGA Committee (Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware), which contained recommendations on combating the illegal use of spyware, in particular intrusive spyware; laments that the Commission, to this date, has not taken the recommendations on board, even though issues prevail; calls, in that context, on Member States and the Commission to implement the recommendations of Parliament’s PEGA Committee, and to strengthen safeguards against spyware proliferation and abuse, and counter deficiencies in national legislation through better enforcement of EU legislation such as the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, procurement rules, and the Dual-Use Regulation; calls for the EU and the Member States to ensure strict oversight of spyware markets and effective accountability mechanisms and the criminalisation of unlawful data collection carried out on behalf of foreign states in violation of EU law;

Removed24. Recognises reprisals against family members of exiled individuals as a form of TNR;

Added39. Calls for holding technology companies and other private actors accountable where they facilitate TNR, including by failing to mitigate risks to the fundamental rights of individuals residing in the EU, particularly regarding the use of these apps for state-sponsored surveillance, the censorship of political speech, and the facilitation of TNR against diaspora communities; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that very large online platforms and search engines apply human-rights-based content moderation; calls on these platforms to establish rapid response mechanisms for individuals at risk, including priority reporting channels, timely human review, safeguards against arbitrary content removal, and effective responses to doxxing, account takeovers and coordinated online harassment;

Removed25. Calls on the Member States to use family reunification and other protective pathways to reduce exposure to coercion by proxy;

AddedCoercion-by-proxy and family-based repression

RemovedAddressing structures that enable TNR

Added40. Recognises reprisals against family members of exiled individuals, whether occurring within the EU or in non-EU countries, as a distinct and serious form of TNR; calls for family-targeted intimidation, detention, property confiscation, travel bans and similar practices to be systematically addressed within EU monitoring, sanctions and diplomatic response frameworks;

Removed26. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to identify, assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in administrative, legal and financial systems that may be exploited for TNR;

Added41. Stresses that family reunification and other protective pathways reduce exposure to coercion-by-proxy;

AddedAddressing the structures that enable transnational repression

Added42. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to identify, assess and mitigate structural vulnerabilities in EU and national administrative, legal and financial systems that may be exploited for TNR, including in consular services;

Added43. Encourages the EU institutions and the Member States to take measures to avoid the risk of their structures being abused by perpetrators of TNR, which could include the introduction of risk-aware safeguards, alternative procedures where necessary, and enhanced oversight of legal, administrative and financial infrastructure, including fundamental rights impact assessments, residency-by-investment schemes and anti-money-laundering frameworks, in order to prevent misuse by perpetrators and ensure accountability;

Added44. Urges Member States to rigorously vet – and where appropriate revoke – investment-linked residence permits and similar ‘golden visa’ arrangements for persons credibly linked to regimes or networks known to engage in TNR, in order to prevent perpetrators and enablers from acquiring EU residency rights that facilitate illicit activity;

Abuse of international cooperation mechanisms

Change 8

Removed27. Calls on the Member States to refuse, document and report informal, coercive or extra-legal requests from foreign authorities;

Added45. Calls on the Member States to remain vigilant and refuse, document and report informal, coercive or extralegal requests from foreign authorities to surveil, detain, restrict, intimidate or hand over exiles or members of diaspora communities, including when such requests are conveyed through diplomatic channels; calls, in this context, for mandatory enhanced scrutiny, automatic suspension and independent judicial review of all international cooperation requests – including extradition, Interpol notices, mutual legal assistance and law-enforcement data sharing – involving persons at risk of TNR; further calls on Member States to refrain from extraditing victims or potential victims of TNR and to ensure their protection within the EU;

Change 9

Changed28.46. Calls on the Member States to ensure that law-enforcement, judicial and other relevant authorities receiving Interpol data and implementing bilateral cooperation agreements with countries suspected of TNR are properly trained to assessidentify and identifyassess risks of abuse;

Change 10

Removed29. Highlights that extra vetting for extradition requests and Interpol notices from governments known to engage in TNR is essential;