Brussels’ tyranny with “Chat Control”

The European Union’s latest move is so outrageous—truly egregious—that we can no longer waste time arguing about its latest measure; I believe it is time we took this seriously and started working to build a citizens' platform aimed at pushing for a referendum to leave the European Union.

We already put up with enough as it is, without having yet another dictatorship—this time in Brussels—imposed upon us. You might think it’s an exaggeration to speak of a "Brussels tyranny," but tell me: in what kind of democracy do they vote on a law as many times as necessary just to get it passed? The "chat control" law has been rejected time and again; because they don't like the result, they put it to a vote again—but this time they change the rules, using a legal maneuver so that a specific quorum is required to reject it.

And even though the chat control law faced more opposition than support, it was passed—moving forward despite having three-hundred-odd votes against and two-hundred-odd in favor. If this is democracy, then God help us. And what kind of law is it, anyway? Chat control. It is a law that allows the European Union to snoop on your social media and read what you say—not just on Twitter, Facebook, or similar platforms, but on WhatsApp and in your emails. When you send a WhatsApp message to someone close to you, von der Leyen will be able to see what you are writing. Furthermore, they are going to implement a digital ID card for accessing social media, keeping you identified—tracking both where you go online and what you say there.

"Chat control," mandatory identification for social media access, and—as if that weren't enough—starting around 2027, a requirement for newly manufactured cars to include facial recognition cameras. To top it all off, they are turning us all into suspects; the presumption of innocence is being dismantled and replaced by a presumption of guilt behind the wheel. Also starting in 2027, cars will have to be equipped with a device that prevents the engine from starting unless you blow into it first—because, apparently, all Europeans are alcoholics.

It is an Orwellian level of control—just piling on top of what’s already there: low-emission zones, tethered bottle caps because they label us environmental criminals... in short, all these restrictions on freedom imposed by the European Union. There is the Green Deal, which is causing hundreds of terrible fires; the Mercosur agreement, which is ruining local livestock farming and agriculture; and now this—"chat control." It’s over; the debate can no longer be about which specific measure we oppose next. The debate has to be about leaving the European Union. We need to organize a platform, an association, something—I don't know, anything—to get out of the European Union.

Doesn't the preamble to the Constitution state that sovereignty emanates from the people? Let's see if the people actually want to remain subjugated to the tyranny of Brussels. Besides, what is the point of being in the European Union? Having all the obligations but none of the advantages? In that case, I’d rather have the arrangement Morocco has: no obligations, no regulations, yet free rein to trade all its products within the European Union. Wasn't the European Union supposed to provide an economic framework giving us access to a market of 400 million people?

In reality, what has happened is that rules have been imposed making our products less competitive than those from non-EU countries—countries that, by virtue of specific agreements, enjoy greater advantages than actual EU members. What began as—I don't know—an economic club designed to foster mutual benefits among European nations through lower tariffs and intra-European consumption has morphed into a totalitarian tyranny where the biggest winners are those outside the Union. Take Morocco, for instance; it is even being funded by EU public money—a sort of "ERDF" arrangement, so to speak. In other words, it hasn't signed an EU accession treaty and isn't bound by any EU obligations, yet it reaps all the benefits.

We would be better off leaving the EU and signing a Morocco-style pact; we would fare twenty times better, and our democracy—which already has enough to contend with given the current situation at Moncloa—wouldn't be put at risk. So, I encourage people to share ideas on how this could be structured, and if there is already a platform demanding Spain's withdrawal from the EU, please let me know.