By Jörg Zägel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

What can the EU Democracy Shield achieve against hybrid threats and foreign interference? | EP Reception

Registration Information

  • Access by ticket only – get yours  here 

  • Limited to 100 participants

Additional Information

  • 23.01.2026 | Doors open 9h30, 10.00-12.00 | European Parliament Liaison Office in Germany | Unter den Linden 78, 10117 Berlin, Germany

European democracy is under attack. Foreign actors are trying to influence elections and public debate. Technological dependencies have left many European countries vulnerable. Martha Turnbull, Director for Hybrid Influence at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, will present an overview of current hybrid threats to European democracy.

The EU is trying to react to these threats and shore up its defences, but democratic governments always seem to be a step behind actors that are not bound by legal obligations and democratic values. In the European Parliament, the special committee on the EU Democracy Shield (EUDS) is trying to come up with answers like a new European Centre for Democratic Resilience. EUDS committee member Lena Düpont, a young German MEP from the CDU, will present current initiatives.

In a panel, Lena Düpont, MEP and Martha Turnbull, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), will discuss the challenges and possible EU reactions with the audience.

Lukas Praml

Lukas Praml

Partisan GmbH

SpeakerMartha Turnbull

Martha is a career diplomat in the UK Foreign Service and has spent the past 15 years working on various national security issues, including hybrid threats and counter-terrorism. She was previously posted to Abu Dhabi as the Gulf Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, responsible for overseeing the UK’s counter- terrorism support to five Gulf States. More recently, Martha has been based in London as one of the Deputy Heads of the State Threats Unit, with responsibility for analysis, data, and open source reporting.

SpeakerLena Düpont

Lena is a German CDU politician and Member of the European Parliament since 2019, currently serving her second term in the EPP group. She studied political science and journalism, worked as a parliamentary assistant in both the European Parliament and the German Bundestag, and before her election was an editor in her hometown. In the European Parliament she sits on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and other bodies, and is also deputy chair of the CDU in Lower Saxony.