ATHENS – Interior Minister Makis Voridis participated in the Global Forum of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Public Governance Ministerial Summit on “Rebuilding Trust and Strengthening Democracy”, held in Luxembourg.

In his speech at the Ministerial Summit, Voridis focused on the problem of disorientation and misinformation, speaking of an international phenomenon, to deal with which a comprehensive, concise, global response is required that could be given by the OECD platform.

He also pointed out that in this period Russia is trying to achieve its war aims by promoting its propaganda positions by abusing the right to freedom of speech and praised the key role of an effective public administration in defending the basic principles and values of democracy.

Referring to Russian state propaganda, Voridis underlined that the war of ideas, i.e. the use of ideas as a bulwark against state propaganda through thorough dialogue and constructive confrontation, has always been at the core of democracy, under the option that the arguments used are based on factual evidence.

Besides, the minister stressed the importance of improving the digital skills of citizens, which will allow them to identify the origin of misinformation and cross-check the accuracy of a piece of information.

Finally, Voridis mentioned as a key recommendation to combat disorientation and misinformation that social media platforms accept their participation in a coherent legal framework that will make them responsible for the content that their users circulate.