They are “acts of intimidation and coercion against European digital sovereignty.” With these words, Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, referred to the US announcement that it would close the doors to the arrival of five European citizens, including a former commissioner, who have taken a stand against hate on the internet and the permissiveness of large American companies. Numerous EU leaders have joined this response in recent hours. Not so the far-right parties of the Union.
The French president spoke out after his government and a good part of the French political class criticized the US decision on Tuesday, when Washington announced the ban on entry into the US against Thierry Breton and four other European personalities.
The Trump administration justified this measure by considering that these five European citizens “have led organized efforts to coerce US platforms to censor, demonetize and suppress US opinions with which they disagree” due to the Digital Services Act (DSA).
In addition to Breton – European Commissioner for the Internal Market between 2019-2024 – the entry veto list also includes British activist Imran Ahmed, executive director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization dedicated to combating hate and disinformation on the internet. Likewise, the directors of the German organization Hate Aid, Annalena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon, appear on the list, as they themselves reported.
In his message, Macron denounced the measures taken against the five people and clarified that “the rules that apply in the field of the internet in Europe are not intended to be determined outside Europe.” “Together with the European Commission and our European partners, we will continue to defend our digital sovereignty and our regulatory autonomy,” warned the French president.
He recalled that “the digital regulations of the European Union have been approved through a democratic and sovereign process by the European Parliament and the Council.” This same regulation, he explained, is applied in Europe to “guarantee fair competition between platforms, without targeting any third country, and to enforce online rules that are already imposed offline.”
In Spain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticized the US decision and has shown Spanish solidarity with those sanctioned. Considers that the measures announced by the Trum Administration “constitute unacceptable measures between partners and allies.” “A safe digital space, free of illicit content and disinformation, is a fundamental value for democracy in Europe and everyone’s responsibility. The Digital Services Regulation protects this space without discrimination,” the statement said.
Reactions have multiplied within the European Commission, other EU institutions and from heads of government. “Freedom of expression is the basis of our strong and vibrant European democracy. We are proud of it. We will protect it,” wrote the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the social network X.
The Community Executive has asked the US authorities for clarification on these measures and assures that “if necessary” it will act “quickly and decisively” to defend the regulatory autonomy of the EU “in the face of unjustified measures.”
For his part, the president of the European Council, António Costa, described the sanctions as “unacceptable among allies, partners and friends.” “The EU firmly defends freedom of expression, fair digital rules and its regulatory sovereignty,” he said on social media.
Along the same lines, the head of community diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, described them as “unacceptable” and added that they constitute an “attempt to challenge” the sovereignty of the EU, while the president of the European Chamber, Roberta Metsola, urged to “quickly rescind” the travel ban.
The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul, described as unacceptable the sanctions of the Donald Trump administration on the German organization HateAid, whose two directors were banned from entering the United States the day before, along with three other European citizens whom that country accuses of “coercing” social networks to censor American voices. “The entry bans imposed by the US, including against HateAid directors, are not acceptable,” Wadephul wrote in X.
In the United Kingdom, which has also been affected by US sanctions, the Government has shown its commitment to “freedom of expression.”
Vox defends it
In Spain, the extreme right has come out in defense of Trump for taking this measure. “The European Commission claims the right to censor social networks in the name of “sovereignty”, but complains when the US uses its sovereignty to prohibit entry to the ideologues of that censorship,” the party said on its X account.
The French far right has not achieved a single voice on this issue. There were some dissonances in Marine Le Pen’s party, the National Rally (RN). Although one of its vice presidents, Sébastien Chenu, considered that the Trump administration was wrong “in substance and in image,” at least two RN MEPs said they understood the US actions.
Source: www.eldiario.es
