In this episode, host Jacob Reynolds is joined by MCC Brussels research fellow Richard Schenk and French MEP Virginie Joron to examine how Europe’s ruling class uses child protection, the rule of law and procedural trickery to expand its control over citizens and political opponents.
First, the panel turns to Ursula von der Leyen’s proposed social-media restrictions. The official justification is child safety. The likely consequence is that every European internet user may be forced to prove his identity using official documents, biometric checks or the EU Digital Identity Wallet. A policy sold as protecting children could become the foundation of an identity-controlled internet in which anonymity disappears and political speech is monitored by regulators and compliant technology giants.
Next, the discussion moves to Hungary, where Péter Magyar’s new government claims to be liberating the country from Viktor Orbán’s legacy. Its methods look rather less democratic. The president has been removed, senior judges forced out and constitutional rules rewritten to sideline political opponents.
Brussels, naturally, hails this as reform. Would the Commission applaud the same methods if they were used by a conservative government, or has the rule of law simply come to mean rule by politicians approved in Brussels?
Finally, the panel examines the resurrection of Chat Control. More MEPs voted against the measure than for it, yet it survived through procedural manoeuvring and the peculiar arithmetic of the European Parliament. The temporary regime permitting providers to scan private communications will now remain in force until April 2028.
Across all three stories, the pattern is unmistakable: Brussels is tightening its grip on the political narrative. Child protection, the rule of law and democratic safeguards are invoked as noble pretexts, while power shifts towards institutions determined to decide which voices are legitimate, which opinions are dangerous and which political forces may govern.
Follow MCC Brussels on social media: https://twitter.com/MCC_Brussels https://facebook.com/MCCBrussels https://linkedin.com/company/mcc-brussels/
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
MCC Brussels. Innehållet i podden är skapat av MCC Brussels och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
