By Angelo Giuliano
The European Union, long heralded as a beacon of democracy, is increasingly revealing an authoritarian bent, with "lawfare"—the strategic use of legal systems to target political opponents—emerging as a potent weapon to suppress dissent. This trend has not gone unnoticed. In his February 2025 Munich Security Conference speech, U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders of a slide into authoritarianism, accusing them of eroding democratic principles and free speech. His critique, once dismissed, now finds stark validation in events across the continent. Yet, this shift is not merely a reaction to current politics—it's rooted in the EU's origins as a U.S.-driven post-World War II project, shaped by figures like Jean Monnet, a French citizen on the CIA payroll, and Walter Hallstein, a recycled Nazi who became the first president of the European Economic Community (EEC) and whose federalist vision sought to dismantle nation-states.
The evidence of lawfare is mounting. In France, Marine Le Pen, a leading far-right figure, has been sentenced and barred from the 2027 presidential election over alleged misuse of EU funds—a charge with legal grounding but timed to eliminate a rival, as Vance noted. Romania's elections were canceled, with the winning candidate, Calin Georgescu, shortly detained and banned from running in Romania's pres, replacing democracy with coercion. Germany is preparing a similar scenario against the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, which Vance defended as a legitimate populist voice stifled by elites. Slovakia's anti-war Prime Minister Robert Fico survived an assassination attempt, a grim escalation of opposition. Hungary's Viktor Orbánfaces relentless EU pressure, including threats to exclude Hungary from decision-making, despite his mandate. Estonia has barred 25% of its Russian-speaking population from voting, while Ukraine canceled elections entirely, and Moldova's Eugenia Gutsul, a pro-Russian regional leader, was arrested—patterns Vance cited as proof of Europe's democratic decay.
This authoritarian turn reflects the EU's foundational flaws. Born as the EEC in 1957 via the Treaty of Rome, it was a U.S. initiative to counter Soviet influence, ostensibly for economic integration but with a deeper political aim. Jean Monnet, bankrolled by the CIA, aligned it with America's Cold War goals. Walter Hallstein, a former Nazi lawyer rehabilitated through Operation Paperclip, served as EEC president (1958–1967), adapting Hitler's "New Order" into a supranational framework. His "Hallstein Doctrine"—his federalist push within the EEC—sought to erode national sovereignty. In "Europe in the Making," he declared, "The nation-state is an idea whose time has passed," envisioning a Europe where centralized institutions trumped national autonomy. The Treaty of Rome, under his watch, empowered the EEC Commission and Court of Justice to shape a system critics see as the genesis of nation-state dissolution.
The EU's globalist agenda—to replace sovereign nations with a homogenized superstate—has been imposed through force and indoctrination. In France, the 2005 Maastricht Treaty referendum saw 54.7% reject the EU Constitution, only for Nicolas Sarkozy to enact the 2007 Lisbon Treaty without public consent. Ireland's 2008 Lisbon rejection was coerced into a 2009 re-vote, and Greece's 2015 anti-austerity referendum was ignored by Brussels. These betrayals reveal a system where unelected technocrats in the European Commission wield power, while the elected European Parliament remains toothless—a structure prioritizing elite interests over national will, echoing the U.S.-backed vision of a borderless Europe. The EU claims this fosters peace, yet it omits its role in the 1999 NATO-led bombing of Yugoslavia—where EU states like France, Germany, and the UK participated in airstrikes killing civilians—and its de facto extension into NATO, an aggressive alliance expanding eastward, contradicting its pacifist narrative.
Vance's warning gains traction here. He accused the EU of preaching democracy while strangling it, a charge bolstered by its founders' legacies. Monnet's CIA ties suggest external manipulation, while Hallstein's Nazi past and EEC tenure tie the project to authoritarian roots. His supranational push laid the groundwork for today's lawfare. The EU's response to populists—Le Pen, Orbán, AfD—has been to weaponize legal and political tools rather than engage, mirroring the autocracy it condemns in Vladimir Putin, a hypocrisy Vance underscored.
Lawfare is the new frontline. Le Pen's barring, Romania's election nullification, and Germany's moves against AfD show legal systems being bent to protect power, not justice. Fico's near-assassination and Orbán's marginalization highlight the EU's intolerance for dissent, while Estonia's voter suppression and Moldova's arrest of Gutsul reflect a broader clampdown under security pretexts. Ukraine's canceled elections further expose the bloc's selective democratic standards. This isn't a defense of values—it's enforcement of conformity, with courts and sanctions as cudgels.
The EU's defenders cite peace and prosperity, but these come at self-determination's expense—and the peace claim rings hollow. The Yugoslavia bombing and NATO's integration, with EU members forming its core, reveal an aggressive streak, not a peaceful union. Hallstein's vision used economic integration to bind nations politically, making independence untenable. His 1965 clash with Charles de Gaulle over supranational voting underscored this, as did the EEC's early steps toward a common market that locked states into dependency. This aligns with Monnet's incrementalism and Hitler's centralized dream, repurposed for U.S. ends—a legacy now manifest in the EU's authoritarian drift.
The consequences are dire. By overriding referendums, wielding lawfare, and silencing democratic voices, the EU risks alienating its citizens, fueling the discontent it seeks to quash. Populism—Le Pen, Orbán, AfD—is a reaction to this disconnect, a demand for representation in a technocratic system. Vance's claim that Europe "barely resembles a democracy" resonates as the EU slides toward centralized control, its U.S.-Nazi origins casting along shadow.
If unchecked, the EU may become an authoritarian leviathan, where nation-states are relics, and citizens are subjects. The French referendum's betrayal, the CIA's fingerprints, Hallstein's quote and recycled vision as EEC president, NATO's aggression, and lawfare's rise weave a narrative of control, not liberation. Will Europe's people accept this fate, or reclaim the sovereignty the EU—born of foreign agendas and dark legacies—seems determined to erase?
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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