EU pulls sponsorship from Disinfo2026 event in Lithuania

The European Union on Thursday offered its reasons for withdrawing sponsorship for a disinformation event in Lithuania , following media reports claiming that it did so after pressure from the US government.

The EU's foreign affairs division, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and the governments of Canada and Lithuania all pulled their support from the event at short notice. Sponsors' logos on flyers and placards at the event were hastily covered over with paper strips.

They withdrew participation in Disinfo2026 after pressure from the US State Department, according to reports in several media outlets, including the British newspaper The Guardian.

EU spokesperson Christian Wigand made no mention of the US or external pressure on Thursday but also did not repudiate the reports.

"We were not comfortable with the framing of some of the discussions at the event," he told reporters in Brussels.

"The organizers chose to frame some of the discussions in way which does not align with the official positions held by the EU," he said.

He refused to discuss details of which discussions or what framing had perturbed the EEAS. He also would not comment on whether there had been talks with US officials on the matter.

"I'm not commenting on diplomatic exchanges as a matter of principle," he said.