The EU Disinfo Lab, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization, has kicked off a Cold War-style scandalous smear campaign ahead of the upcoming European Parliament (EP) elections, said Nicolas Bay, an EP member from France and secretary general of Marine Le Pen's right-wing National Rally, formerly known as the National Front.
On August 10, the NGO published a list of names of Twitter users who were actively criticizing French President Emmanuel Macron and his former security aide Alexander Benalla, who assaulted a street protester during a May Day demonstration in Paris. Many of those who found themselves on the list belong to the electorate of Marine Le Pen.
The MEP believes that Disinfo Lab "is closely connected with European institutions, being their partner and, possibly, it is even financed by the European Commission's External Relations department."
"There are 10 months left before the elections to the European Parliament, and the use of such methods by persons acting in some way on behalf of European institutions raises serious concerns about the democratic nature of these debates and the observance of the principle of equality and impartiality within the framework of elections by these structures," Bay told Sputnik France.
"They tried to convince everybody that the Benalla case was orchestrated by Russia, but this is completely absurd," Bay emphasized, adding that the French were outraged by the way Emmanuel Macron and his closest associates defended Alexander Benalla.
He believes that the investigation carried out by EU Disinfo Lab is nothing short of a "propaganda tool sponsored by European institutions," which are targeting his conservative and right-wing counterparts.
"This affected not only our political status as a parliamentary group of the National Rally, we were also accused of being close to Russia," Bay pointed out. "This confirms that [the investigation] is about pinning political labels; it is not limited to social categories, people are ranked in one or another category regardless of their political affiliation."
Bay underscored that the National Rally reserves the right to defend itself and initiate appropriate procedures, but its response would be primarily political. "We want to say that there is no desire for Russia to interfere in France's policies," he concluded.
The scandal surrounding Macron's former security aide erupted in July 2018 following Le Monde's exposure of Benalla's controversial behavior and apparent violation of the country's law during a May Day demonstration earlier this year as well as the Macron cabinet's attempts to sweep the case under the rug.
The Western media have repeatedly tried to accuse Russia of meddling in foreign elections in the wake of the large-scale campaign in the US kicked off by the Democrats in 2016 and claim that Moscow had interfered in the US presidential race. However, no evidence confirming the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election has been presented so far. The Kremlin has vehemently denied any involvement into the US election process, calling the assumptions absurd and referring to the lack of evidence.
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