The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, is bringing together more than 70 heads of information and communication services from numerous European countries, as well as from various EU organisations and institutions, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters this Thursday for the plenary meeting of the Club of Venice.
This is the first time that Spain is hosting the plenary meeting of the Club of Venice, of which it has been a member since its foundation. The meeting has been co-organised by the Club’s Secretariat and the Directorate-General for Communication, Public Diplomacy and Social Media at the MFA.
For Minister Albares, holding this plenary meeting in Madrid demonstrates the importance that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attaches to communication and the fight against disinformation in our societies. In this regard, the Minister points out that “there is no democracy without information, and there is no robust democracy without trust in reliable, high-quality, verifiable information”. Albares also highlights the importance of applying democratic governance to the digital and AI environments, emphasising that public communication forms the foundation of our multilateral system.
Two days of discussions on disinformation, technology and crisis management
The plenary meeting in Madrid is taking place over two days and focuses on governmental and institutional strategies, as well as studies on trends in public communication and the role of the civil service in government communication. Various panels and round tables address issues of paramount importance in the current geopolitical climate, such as the fight against disinformation and foreign interference (FIMI); the technological challenge, with particular attention to the impact of AI on public communication and the credibility of information; and crisis management, which is becoming increasingly common in the current global context.
The various round-table discussions and panels feature Stefano Rolando, President of the Club of Venice, as well as Vincenzo Le Voci, Secretary-General; Antonio Asencio, Director-General for Communication, Public Diplomacy and Social Media at the MFA, Mónica Colomer, Director-General for Spanish around the World at the MFA; Antón Leis, Director of the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID); and representatives from the Department of National Security, the SEGIB, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and the NATO Centre of Excellence for Strategic Communication.
Communications officers from the Governments and Foreign ministries of EU countries, the United Kingdom and candidate countries, representatives from the European Commission and the European Parliament, think tank experts, journalists such as Marc Marginedas from El Periódico, academics, fact-checking agency professionals (Maldita, Newtral) and members of civil society are featured too.
Also participating are representatives from the State Secretariat for Communication of the Presidency of the Government, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, the AESIA (Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence), attached to the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
Club of Venice
The Club of Venice, founded in 1986, aims to promote the exchange of information and experiences in all areas of public information and communication.
Discussions at recent meetings have increasingly focused on crisis communication at both national and EU level (the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid threats and the fight against terrorism, the fight against disinformation and misinformation, and the refugee and migration crisis), as well as other communication priorities such as economic recovery measures and public diplomacy.