Academic freedom needs strong legal protections, according to experts and MEPs

Experts and policymakers meeting to discuss the increasingly tense relationship between higher education and democratic stability have warned that attacks on academic institutions often serve as the first sign of sliding toward authoritarianism.

At a panel discussion on 04/03/2026 of the European Parliament's STOA committee's annual conference, speakers emphasised that academia was not just a beneficiary of democracy, but part of its essential "infrastructure", and that it was currently facing both dissatisfaction from within its ranks and external interference.

Speaking at the panel were: Christian Ehler, German MEP (EPP), the chair of STOA; Carolina Plescia, Associate Professor at the University of Vienna; Maria Cristina Russo, Deputy Director-General for Innovation, Prosperity and International Cooperation at the European Commission; and Tomas Tobé, Swedish MEP (EPP), member of the EU Democracy Shield Committee (a special committee to monitor threats and propose solutions to strengthen the EU’s resilience to hybrid threats and attacks).

They discussed the contemporary challenges…