Legal Loopholes and the Risk of Foreign Interference (EXPO_IDA(2023)702575)

Commissioned by the ING2 Special Committee, Jones's analysis maps the legislative gaps that enable foreign interference operations to persist despite EU counter-measures. The study identifies specific loopholes across three domains: the inadequacy of existing criminal law frameworks for prosecuting foreign interference, the gaps in sanctions regimes that allow sanctioned actors to continue operating through intermediaries, and the weaknesses in political transparency and lobbying registers that obscure foreign-backed political financing.

The legal precision of this analysis distinguishes it from most counter-FIMI policy documents, which tend to operate at the level of principle rather than statute. Jones identifies specific provisions in EU and member state law that create actionable vulnerabilities, and proposes targeted legislative reforms. For legal practitioners, policymakers, and researchers working on the regulatory architecture of counter-interference policy, this is the most technically detailed available assessment of where EU law currently falls short.