President Nicusor Dan on Wednesday told the opening of an event on information integrity and combating disinformation that people must first and foremost trust the authorities in order to listen to their messages, while also stressing that disinformation has effects on a nation's prosperity.

'We communicate strategically, but the people we address must have minimal trust to listen to us when we open our mouths,' the head of state told the European Summit on Information Integrity and Combating Disinformation, taking place at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

He pleased for rebuilding citizens' trust in public authorities.

According to the president, disinformation is not only a matter of democracy and ethics, but also a matter of prosperity because there is a correlation between the level of trust within a society and the prosperity found within it. 'That is where disinformation strikes,' Nicusor Dan stressed.

Unlike in the past, he said, disinformation is no longer a succession of ad hoc operations, but is coordinated across multiple fronts and relies on technology, while the response must be equally coordinated.

The head of state highlighted that disinformation does not occur only in the political sphere, but also exists in the medical field where it 'costs resources and even lives,' in the economic sphere and in the area of women's safety, where it has led victims of abuse to refuse to wear electronic bracelets because of various speculations.

Democracy, Nicusor Dan added, 'means people trying to legitimately influence one another so that together they can make the best decisions for society,' whereas disinformation 'means corrupting these mechanisms.'

'We must look at those mechanisms that distort a hierarchy of values (...) without interfering with the citizen's ability to express any opinion or assessment they wish,' the president pointed out.

The state must 'communicate coherently and strategically, if possible in a human rather than propagandistic manner,' he said, adding that 'unfortunately, politicians, encouraged by consultants,' sometimes communicate in a propagandistic way.

Nicusor Dan also called for education, stressing that media literacy is 'a matter of national security.' AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)