FRANCE 24 spoke to Benoît Grünemwald to discuss what’s at stake and the strategies the French government could deploy to effectively combat foreign meddling. With a year to go before the presidential election, French authorities and cyber experts are forewarning of potential threats to electoral integrity. To assess the current threat level and the necessary responses, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a meeting with political leaders on June 11 to discuss the issue of foreign interference. Lecornu spoke of “serious threats” to the 2027 election, warning that “the entire political class” could be at risk. Since the ‘Macron Leaks’, a cyberattack blamed on Russia that involved the dumping online of a trove of documents to undermine Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign, the French government has significantly bolstered its fight against disinformation. Watch moreAI: Revolution in technology challenging our psychological, societal, and ethical boundaries However, advances in generative artificial intelligence, unresolved geopolitical crises and an increasingly disillusioned and politically fragmented voting public are fuelling fears of a flood of disinformation ahead of the 2027 election. Recent municipal elections may have served as “a dress rehearsal”, said France’s secretary-general for defence and national security (SGDSN), Nicolas Roche, after authorities identified several attempts to destabilise the electoral process.