Democracy in Europe is clearly in a dire state. Certainly, the EU won’t be the one to save it. Its so-called European Democracy Shield, first floated by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in 2024 and officially unveiled last month, is less about protecting democracy and more about protecting itself from democracy. The scheme is framed as cracking down on online misinformation and foreign interference, but will surely be used in practice to silence dissent. Any voices that push back against EU hegemony risk being accused of disseminating fake news, and any politician who stands up for national sovereignty can expect to be labelled a Chinese or Russian asset. We have seen so many times before that ‘democracy,’ as far as Brussels is concerned, is valuable only when it works towards the aims of the European project and its unelected guardians.
Europe’s leaders are terrified of their own populations. The political elites do not believe people can be trusted to make decisions for themselves—certainly not ones so consequential as who should rule over them. Until voters make it clear that they will no longer tolerate being managed, censored, or overruled, many European nations will remain democracies in name only. Power will not be handed back politely, however. If Europeans still want a voice, they will have to raise it.
