The European Parliament is organising a conference “Fact-checking European elections” in Brussels on Thursday 27 September 2018 – Friday 28 September 2018.

The intention is to discuss challenges and possible solutions to:

• Fact checking European elections – lessons from the past, looking into the future
• Working with data from social media companies and EU Institutions
• Common areas of EU disinformation – the examples of migration and the EU budget
• Practical cooperation among European fact checkers

Draft programme

Thursday, 27 September 2018

8.00 – 9.00 Arrival and registration. Coffee provided inside the meeting room. Venue: ASP 3G2

9.00 – 9.30 Opening by Antonio TAJANI, President of the European Parliament and Mariya GABRIEL, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. Followed by Q&A

9.30 – 9.50 Welcome by Jaume DUCH GUILLOT, Director-General for Communication and European Parliament Spokesperson -tbc

10.00 – 11.00 European Parliament Elections 2019 – Ensuring a fact-based debate

• Jaromír ŠTĚTINA (EPP, CZ) – tbc-
• Isabelle THOMAS (S&D, FR)
• Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE) – tbc-
• Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE, NL)
• Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE)

11.00 – 11.15 Coffee break

11.15 – 12.00 European Parliament Elections 2019 – the trends, the facts, the myths, the campaign

• Steve CLARK, Director for Liaison Offices, DG COMM, EP
• Marjory VAN DEN BROEKE, Deputy Spokesperson of the European Parliament
• Mikko SALO, founder, Faktabaari (FactBar)

12.00 – 12.45 Setting up an EU fact checking network

• Paolo CESARINI, Head of Media Convergence and Social Media Unit, DG CNECT, European Commission
• Alexios MANTZARLIS, Director, International Fact-Checking Network

LUNCH BREAK sandwiches will be provided

BREAKOUT SESSIONS, Venue tbc

14:30 – 15:30 Fact checking European elections – lessons from the past, looking into the future

• France: Grégoire LEMARCHAND, AFP Factuel
• Latvia: Andris KĀRKLUVALKS, Editor, DELFI
• Derek BOWLER, Head of Social Newsgathering of the Eurovision News Exchange

14:30 – 15:30 Does fact checking pay? And who pays for fact checking?

• Christophe LECLERCQ, Founder, Euractiv
• Xxx

15:30 – 15:45 Coffee break

15:45 – 16:45 Fact checking on social media platforms

• Facebook -speaker tbc-
• Snapchat -speaker tbc-
• Twitter -speaker tbc

15:45 – 16:45 Fact checking for EU elections – lessons from the past, looking into the future

• Alexios MANTZARLIS, Director, International Fact-Checking Network
• Bulgaria: Ralitsa KOVACHEVA, PhD, Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’
• Italy: Tommaso CANETTA, Pagella Politica
• Sweden: Maja LAGERCRANTZ, Faktiskt

17:00 – 18:00 Networking opportunity

Friday, 28 September 2018

Venue: ASP 3G2

Registration. Coffee provided inside the meeting room.

09:00 – 10:00 Spread of (dis)information – views from the academia and from the ground (ASP 3G2)

• Lucas GRAVES, Senior Research Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
• Tali SHAROT, University College London
• Ruurd OOSTERWOUD, Founder, DROG
• Juliane VON REPPERT-BISMARCK, Founder and Director, Lie Detectors

10:00 – 11:00 Fact checking using EU sources – tips from the inside

• Naja BENTZEN, Policy Analyst, External Policies Unit, Directorate A, European Parliamentary Research Service
• Phillip SCHULMEISTER, Public Opinion monitoring unit, DG COMM, EP
• Timothy ALLEN, Eurostat
• António CARNEIRO, Director, EUR-Lex and EU Open Data Portal -tbc

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 – 12.00 Practical cooperation among European fact checkers – what next?

12:00 – 12:30 Closing remarks by Vice-President Ramón Luis VALCÁRCEL SISO