European Values Think-Tank 2016 Annual Report European Values Tink-Tank European Values Tink-Tank in 2016 Te Kremlin Watch Program: Our vision is that of a free, safe and prosperous Czech Republic Countering the threat posed by Russian disinformation and hostile influence within Central Europe that is an integral part of the West. We have managed to put the disinformation and Among others, we were invited by the British Foreign & In 2016, we have helped to face aggressive regimes, radicalisation hostile influence of the Kremlin on public, political, Commonwealth Office, Polish Ministry of National Defence, and governmental agenda. We have awakened the or German Federal Foreign Office. Moreover, the German within the society, the spread of authoritarian tendencies immune system – the Czech Republic finally started to Federal Academy for Security Policy has asked us to summa- work seriously on its defence strategy. rize our policy recommendation in their publication, and we and extremist ideologies including Islamism. Our recommendations are being heard. Te Czech govern- introduced our defence strategy plan in the European Parlia- ment established the specialized Centre Against Terrorism ment. We have provided politicians with expert recommendations and Hybrid Treats under the Ministry of the Interior. Tis We try to make Prague the centre of resistance against the was one of our recommendations in the National Security and we systematically watched and evaluated their performance. Kremlin’s hostile influence. Here, we organized the biggest Audit, in which we are official advisers for the chapter “Influ- European gathering of allied experts specifically focused on ence of Foreign Powers”. We consider active citizens, accountable politicians, political parties disinformation operations – the 2016 STRATCOM SUMMIT. Our voice in the Czech public debate is strong and visible. that fulfil their role as well as a cohesive society that shares We warn about threats posed by Islamic extremism, mass We are the only non-governmental centre in the Czech migration, and disinformation. In 2016, we were quoted Republic which deals with the disinformation threat In the Czech public space, the values of individual freedom, human dignity and equal rights nearly a thousand times in Czech media. systematically on a daily basis. only we are explaining why and how president Zeman is to be the principle elements of a functioning liberal democracy. We systematically brief top Czech politicians about - disinformation operations. Amongst people who read our tion. Our pressure is one of the reasons why Miloš Zeman is Since 2005 we have pursued research and educational activities materials are, for example, Chairman of the NATO Military more often confronted with the issue of his actions corre- Committee Petr Pavel, Minister of the Interior Milan sponding with Russian interests. as a non-governmental and non-profitable organisation with Chovanec, or EU commissioner Věra Jourová. We also explain the disinformation threat to members of the US Congress or - no linkage to any political party. In addition to publishing analytical the European Parliament. ed foundation “National Endowment for Democracy” consid- ers the Kremlin Watch programme to be amongst the top On the European level, we are considered to be one of the papers and commentaries for the media, we organise conferences, 5 disinformation analysts. best think-tanks focusing on this threat. During 2016, we seminars and training sessions for both experts and the wider consulted on the topic of disinformation in 14 allied and In 2016, our opinions and comments made its way to the partner states: majority of the most influential world media, such as Te public. Our events provide a platform for dialogue amongst politi- New York Times, Te Washington Post, BBC, CNN, Der cians, experts, journalists, businesspeople and students. Spiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine, ZDF, and many other leading nationwide newspapers and radio or TV stations in Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Poland, France, or Germany. Tis was possible Radko Hokovský, Ph.D. thanks to our systematic, thorough, and strategic manage- Executive Director of the European Values Tink-Tank ment of communication. Our open letter to Federica Mogherini calling for taking the Russian disinformation threat more seriously, which contained a concrete proposal for strengthening the EU’s team focused on this issue, received attention all over the world. More than 150 experts from the world’s most influen- tial research and political institutions have signed it. Te letter made it into the news in more than ten languages, and F. Mogherini appeared in a live CNN interview based on our initiative. Program for Cohesive Society: Countering the threat posed by Islamic INFOGRAPHICS extremism and uncontrolled mass migration We are helping to prepare the Czech security institutions to avoid mistakes that have been made in the migration called “Organized violent extremism; hate crime” organized and integration polices of Western European countries. by the Czech Judicial Academy. Our goal is to raise awareness OUR TEAM Parts of our plan are already being realized. In May 2016, about which paragraphs of existing laws allow for taking legal EVENTS* involved in the work of we presented our eight-point proposal for reforming the EU’s actions against Islamic extremism (and how to identify it), the European Values Tink-Tank are immigration and asylum system in the European Parliament. - 90 events Afterwards, we introduced the proposal to, for instance, the bility of the Sharia law with the Czech legal order. 110 people 21 public events political advisor of the CDU. European politicians are already We cooperate with the Ministry of the Interior on identifying 56 men promoting individual components which are coincident with main sources of Islamic extremism, such as Islamist publica- 11 czech cities our proposal – in the issues of border protection, externaliza- 54 women tion of migration pressures, or detention. We put together a methodology for a systematic analysis of all 68 interns these sources, their classification on a four-level scale, and more than 2 800 attendants Te stance on migration and Islamism of the majority of and speakers Czech political parties is close to our recommendations. identification of those which are extremist and whose dissemi- 155 We regularly present our analysis and recommendations to nation must be prosecuted. We are compiling a list of all from more than 25 different countries Czech politicians and organize a lot of events in the Parlia- relevant Islamist sources together with their evaluation. ment. Our main message is that even democracy can act We prepared a security program called Self-Confident Czech WEB tough when dealing with threats, and that it is not necessary Republic, which has been offered to the programs of Czech to lapse into a police state and restrict individual liberties. political parties before the 2017 parliamentary elections. Our 169 061 visitors political recommendations focus on 5 key areas for the We bring top Western experts on migration and Islamism views MEDIA to Czech state institutions for consultations. Together security of the Czech Republic: 403 446 with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, we 1. Sustainable migration and asylum policy organized a second year of a European forum on internal 2. Integration of foreigners 1001 references in the media 3. Fight against (Islamic) extremism security HOMEAFFAIRS, where experts discussed topics such 4. Terror prevention 330 appearences in online media as radicalization, terrorism, organized crime, cybercrime, 5. Security system appearences in printed media illegal immigration or border protection. - 77 We create consensus between practitioners and experts on os for the development of the European security environ- 109 appearences in radio the perception of Islamic extremism in the Czech debate. ment from the perspective of Czech interests. We identified We introduced a legal analysis of individual components of four possible key events in the following three years, so-called the Sharia law and its incompatibility with the democratic system “game-changers”, which might significantly change legal order. We also published a typology of Islamic extrem- Europe’s social and political system. Te scenarios were 105 articles on iHNED.cz ism, usable in the practice of security institutions. In the FACEBOOK autumn of 2016, we were invited to present our recommen- Benešík, Antonín Seďa, Dana Váhalová) and presented to the 10 562 readers dations for the prevention of Islamism propagation to Czech General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic. public prosecutors during a Judicial Academy course. 8 480 fans We contributed to shaping the stance of the Czech govern- Educational Program 99 % of fans have the right to vote ment and its representatives, thanks to our long-term and intensive consultancy and communication activity, seminars APPEARANCES and informal meetings in the Parliament or ministries, our “I live in democracy” program. Together with personali- On average we daily had conferences on top political level, professional analyses and ties which significantly contributed to Czech state-building ON EVENTS ABROAD reactions newsletters which we send to politicians. or are an important part of the Czech public debate, we more than 35 events 12 discussed democracy, human rights, or active citizenship with 5 comments against the EU’s irresponsible immigration policy and against more