It's the end of the year - an annus horribilis for Europe. It should be a moment of reflection on the root causes of the humiliation this continent had to endure at the hands of Donald Trump this year. And it's time to reimagine what Europe can be.

Verrassend besluit @nrc. Dan zijn kritische vragen wel aangewezen. Zoals: waarom klaagt de columniste/ex-Kamerlid een misstand aan die haar eigen politieke partij in stand wenst te houden? Vrijwel alle partijen - ook NSC - wijzen structurele hervorming van de EU af.

Amerikaanse bedrijven staan in Europa boven de wet, omdat niemand de tech-bros durft aan te pakken. Idem voor oa digitale en belastingen. Dit illustreert de stelling van @davekeating.substack.com over de zelf-onderwerping van Europa aan de VS. (zijn boek "The Owned Continent" is een must-read)

Hear hear!

Must-listen aflevering van @betrouwbarebronnen.bsky.social. Hoe een chipsmachine in Veldhoven een hoofdrol speelt in een geopolitieke strijd tussen China en de VS, die beiden Taiwan in het vizier hebben, en Europa achter de feiten aanhobbelt. Dus oortjes in tijdens de wandeling na de kerstbrunch!

A single judge determined to get at the truth about the wiretapping scandal, exposing the carefully crafted cover up operation. The Greek government, @ec.europa.eu, @eppgroup.bsky.social may keep fiercely denying and dismissing the revelations, accountability and justice are inescapable.

NATO SecGen Rutte “We should be grateful to Trump for his leadership”. Curious if founding NATO member Denmark appreciates the leadership just as much. 😒

Europeans have not given up on democracy and the rule of law. Bulgarians taking to the streets today 💪⚖️. Like the Slovak people, like the brave Serbians and Georgians. Don’t forget: democracy was always hard-fought, never a gift. We have lost none of that power to fight for it!

Good news, and a good example of European citizens standing up against big tech in defense of EU values while the @ec.europa.eu is busy taking orders from Trump and Musk. @noyb.eu

A few first thoughts: Ukraine has got a bit more time, but it is not nearly enough. EUCO has kicked the can down the road, but the question will come back. /1

The core of the problem: #EUCO is now the de facto EU government, but it has no mandate, is not accountable to anyone, and its members are not rewarded or penalized by the voters for their European activities. So none of them have ownership. None. Europe is orphaned.

For a bit of positive news: the Greek court case on abuse of #spyware is taking an interesting turn, as the court has summoned additional key witnesses and ordered they will be forcibly brought in of needed. Some people will get nervous now.

Is Brussels about to do it again? Word of a deal tonight : Hungary gets €16B in defense loans, drops veto on joint EU debt for Ukraine. But Orbán still hasn’t met the rule-of-law milestones. EU conditionality, once again, up for sale? We’ve seen this movie before. Dec 2023 #EUCO

So much for the French grandstanding on European autonomy. Europe giving in to farmer vandalism, terror and intimidation, while bending over to Trump. Ordinary citizens have no voice, while national leaders are selling out our continent.

🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 Revenge is a dish best served cold (and after five years). Moments ago, CJEU, in the case Commission v. Poland, found that the Polish Constitutional Tribunal has not only violated EU law with its anti-EU rulings, but also was (is) not an independent court established properly by law. 1/

If the European Union is about security and prosperity, but if it is unable or unwilling to provide either, then it loses its very purpose. That is what is at stake today. #UkraineLoan #Mercosur

Dit zijn geen “protesten” maar rellen, vandalisme en intimidatie. Voor de zoveelste keer. Wint de straatterreur opnieuw? Of durven de regeringsleiders eens een moedig besluit te nemen in het algemeen belang?

A member of the European Council openly admitting he is taking his instructions directly from the Kremlin in exchange for favors. Anyone else would have been subject to a criminal investigation for that. It illustrates perfectly why the European Council is a failed institution.

The rhetorics sound good, but they would be so much convincing if at the same time political leaders would actually take responsibility and come up with credible solutions for Ukraine.

For those who are in "peace talks" right now: a good reminder of what a signature is worth these days...

Even when confronted with a 🇺🇸 #NationalSecurityStrategy planning their ouster, our centrist leaders have been silent in response. Merz's much-lauded 'end of the Pax Americana' speech only spoke of US isolationism, not aggression. But the 🇪🇺Defence Commissioner just said the quiet part out loud:

Something new on the horizon? ❤️🇪🇺

EU subsidising spyware used in acts of war, human rights violations and attacks on democracy, including within Europe. Well explained by @vaspanagiotopoulos.com. Maybe the @europarl.europa.eu can briefly interrupt its witch-hunt against climate NGOs to investigate the EU funding of spyware abuse?

European governments are voluntarily handing the keys of their vital IT systems in police, health care and intel to #Palantir, whose boss explicitly wants to end democracy. The Swiss seem to be the only ones who are paying attention when all the others have gone into snooze mode

Excellent piece by @gsamaras.bsky.social @jacobinmag.bsky.social on the dramatic decline of democracy, the economy and the rule of law in Greece. Greek citizens are paying the price for corruption, crime and authoritarianism. Yet @eppgroup.bsky.social shields Mitsotakis as they did Orbàn

Support for Ukraine is urgent, so last week's decision on the RU assets is welcome. But frivolous use of Art 122 is risky, undemocratic and no viable long term solution. There is no magic wand, the EU needs structural change or become ungovernable. My blog: sophieintveld.substack.com/p/the-eu-nee...

While he is at it, maybe he should warn Europeans about the very real and present dangers of a weak EU clinging to a transatlantic relationship that no longer exists. (But I suppose he doesn’t want to cross Daddy)

🇪🇺 MSs are looking more at how to ramp-up their own defence capabilities. But we need to resolve some European level defence problems, related with industrial fragmentation or the needed institutional, political arrangements in order to pursue European defence independence. @sede.europarl.europa.eu

In an interview last night on Deutsche Welle about my new book The Owned Continent, I outlined how the European surrenders to Trump this year were not just driven by geopolitics. It was also driven by psychology – a result of America's cultural dominance in Europe.

“Do we have a proper institutional arrangement” in case an EU member state is attacked? That is the core question, and the answer is: no. National governments hope it is enough to throw money at the problem, so they can escape reforms. It is not, and they can’t. There is no defence without reforms

Mini-Trump #GLB houdt vurige lofzang op Trump’s Veiligheidsstrategie. Hij had het “zelf kunnen schrijven”. Wat vindt @aldeparty.bsky.social @reneweurope.bsky.social daarvan? @deafspraak.bsky.social

The US never fully met the conditions for visa free travel in Europe. The @ec.europa.eu flatly refused to take action, despite repeated calls by @europarl.europa.eu. This would be a good time to actually apply the rules.

Your piece already contains the way forward for the European Union @andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu. The question remains not why the US want to keep Europe weak, but why European politicians don't want to make her strong. (we know the answer)

Trump's (and Putin's) Trojan Horses in Europe have a name now, their Useful Idiots have a profile. The only answer to Trump and Putin is turbocharging European integration.

How Luxembourg tamed the ‘monster’ of a unified EU market - www.ft.com/content/4fa8... via @FT

Another great article by @sophieintveld.bsky.social “In these times of tectonic geopolitical shifts, there is an urgent need for public debate about the role and future of the European Union, and the reforms needed to make it resilient in today’s turbulent world.”

EU Commissioner Šuica travelling to Saudi Arabia just now. The @ec.europa.eu may wish to conveniently forget about Khashoggi, but the past cannot be simply erased. Hopefully the spyware case brought by Kashoggi’s widow will bring some justice.

Palantir should not be anywhere near critical systems in Europe. Yet national government are quietly allowing it to operate inside intel services, police and public health systems. This should be banned instantly

Implementation of court rulings of Europe’s two top courts is dropping further. The annual implementation report paints a highly alarming picture of the rule of law in Europe today 1 www.einnetwork.org/justice-dela....

Europeans are better informed about US politics than about their own. If pro-European forces are silent, the void will be filled by Trump, Musk, Putin, and their useful idiots in Europe. No Democracy Shield can protect us then. Time to talk EU. My blog: open.substack.com/pub/sophiein...

The calls from America this weekend to "abolish the EU" are for one simple reason: the EU is the only thing that can keep European nation-states from becoming Russian or American vassals.

This 👇. These are the only options. Europe can either be a vassal of the US, or a federal Union. The option "Bobbing-lazily -along-as-a-semi-loose-intergovernmental-Union-while-being-besties-with-the-Friendly-Giant-across-the-pond" is no longer available.

Europe-based spyware vendor Intellexa doing illegal business and “thriving” despite US sanctions & in violation of EU export rules. Still no action @hennavirkkunen.bsky.social @michaelmcgratheu.bsky.social @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu? Maybe cos of awkward involvement of @eppgroup.bsky.social members?

Heldere taal van Sven Biscop. www.demorgen.be/nieuws/sven-...

We tend to think that keeping the status quo means stability and change means risk. But now the opposite is true: the status quo is instability.

"Als we willen dat alles blijft zoals het is, moet alles veranderen". Aldus de beroemde quote uit "De Tijgerkat" van Lampedusa. De huidige tijd heeft sterke "Tijgerkat" vibes: de oude wereldorde die maar niet kan aanvaarden dat de nieuwe wereldorde er al is.

I very much concur with the first part, but not the second: the US are not our ally anymore. They explicitly seek domination. That means they want to subjugate Europe, not partner with it. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Trumps biggest fear is a strong, federal Europe. Politicians in Europe who echo his narrative are his useful idiots. Let's stop dreaming about a return to the past, let's start imagining the future! Europe can be a giant, strong and independent. Read my blog 👇 open.substack.com/pub/sophiein...

Europe wake up!! www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u... Much of this may be silly chest-beating, but Trump is clearly coming for Europe. A strong Europe is an obstacle to his goal of world domination. National politicians opposing a strong EU should realise they are Trump's useful idiots in his plan

EU Member States warned that redefining personal data in the Digital Omnibus could threaten rights protection and complicate data transfers. The EDPB and EDPS added that these changes go beyond recent CJEU case law and GDPR updates, potentially risking data protection rights.