'Tyranny in Disguise': Will Democracy Survive in Europe?
by Guy Millière • May 27, 2025 at 5:00 am
In 2022, the European Union adopted the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is supposed to "protect the rights of social media users" and "provide a safer online environment" by "limiting the spread of illegal and harmful content." What constitutes "illegal and harmful content" was not defined and could be anything the European Commission defines as such, along with the right to impose fines and shut the websites down.
The reason given by Germany's domestic intelligence agency for designating AfD an "extremist organization" is neither fascism nor racism. In fact, not a single AfD leader advocates fascist or racist positions, and, what actually may be objectionable to many Europeans, is that AfD is "the most pro-Israel and philo-Semitic" party in Germany.
This anti-democratic drift has taken hold in several European countries. Politicians and parties who disagree with the worldview of the officials in power are increasingly being excluded from any possibility of running for an official position...
In France, Marine Le Pen, who polls show is in first place for the 2027 presidential election, was sentenced to five years of election ineligibility and four years in prison for allegedly embezzling public funds.
Le Pen did not embezzle public funds.... The Democratic Movement, a centrist party led by French Prime Minister François Bayrou, did exactly the same thing as the National Rally with its MEPs' assistants, but Bayrou was acquitted by a judge.
Most European leaders today refer to the parties and politicians they wish to exclude as "far right." The term is used to refer to racist, xenophobic and authoritarian parties. None of the parties mentioned above shows the slightest tendency toward racism, xenophobia and authoritarianism half as much as their opponents do.
Many European leaders today appear blind to the consequences of ever-increasing immigration, and a growing Muslim presence in Europe. They are dismissive of the Muslims' continuing mass-migration, enthusiastic birthrate, and they remain stubbornly deaf to the concerns shouted by their non-Muslim citizenry.
February 14, 2025. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance delivers remarks in Germany, at the Munich Security Conference. The audience expects him to talk about foreign policy, geopolitics, and threats facing the world.
Instead, he says that the most worrying threat today is "the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values." He adds that European countries and institutions are undermining democracy and freedom of speech -- and gives examples.
"A former European commissioner," Vance states, "went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election."
