Tag: eu

How The EU Pays Mainstream Media To Promote Its Narratives

The unelected leadership of the evidently corrupt European Union (EU) is now paying mainstream media to promote the agendas of its EU “elites.” The EU appears to have spent as much as 1 billion euros during the past decade alone in the process, according to a recent report, “Brussels’s media machine: European media funding and the shaping of public discourse,” by Thomas Fazi, from the European think tank MCC Brussels.

Framing the projects as “fighting disinformation” and “promoting European integration” the EU has been throwing taxpayer money, conservatively estimated at €80 million annually, to “media projects” — not including indirect funding, such as advertising contracts.

The report also shows that the EU runs a highly sophisticated “EU media complex” through which it gets to shape media narratives about itself and its agendas.

According to Fazi’s report:

“The European Commission – through its Journalism Partnerships programme alone, with a cumulative budget approaching € 50 million to date – oversees a vast ecosystem of EU media ‘collaborations.’ Over the years, these have included hundreds of projects, ranging from pro-EU promotional campaigns to questionable ‘investigative journalism’ initiatives and sweeping ‘anti-fake news’ efforts. And that’s on top of the advertorial campaigns funded through the Information Measures for the EU Cohesion policy (IMREG) programme, to the tune of € 40 million so far…

“Even more concerning is the central role played by major European public broadcasters in this process. These projects show that this is not a matter of one-off collaborations, but rather an evolving semi-structural relationship between EU institutions and public media networks.”

The European Commission has, it seems, has literally paid off almost everything and everyone in the media world — meaning that everyone, from news agencies to media outlets, public broadcasters and other media organizations, sits in the pocket of the European Commission to greater or smaller degrees.

Keep reading

Von der Leyen Unveils New EU Censorship Push, Online Digital ID Plans, in 2025 State of the Union Speech

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her 2025 State of the Union speech to unveil a raft of new regulatory measures that introduce new challenges for digital rights and freedom of expression across the continent and the world.

Framed as measures for public health, democracy, and child protection, the Commission is pushing the EU deeper into institutionalized censorship and online regulation.

Addressing the European Parliament, von der Leyen declared she is “appalled by the disinformation that threatens global progress on everything from measles to polio.”

Citing fears of a global health crisis, she introduced a “Global Health Resilience Initiative,” which she said the EU would lead.

This initiative is expected to tie online speech more tightly to global health narratives, laying the groundwork for broader suppression of dissenting views under the label of medical misinformation.

Another centerpiece of her address was the so-called “European Democracy Shield,” a program that we’ve covered in great detail, intended to streamline and centralize the Commission’s censorship machinery under the banner of fighting “foreign information manipulation and interference.”

Framing the internet as a battlefield, she said: “Our democracy is under attack. The rise in information manipulation and disinformation is dividing our societies.”

Expanding on that framework, she announced the creation of a new institution, the European Centre for Democratic Resilience.

According to von der Leyen, this center will allow the EU to scale up its ability “to monitor and detect information manipulation and disinformation.”

But the agenda didn’t stop there. She introduced the Media Resilience Program, which she claimed would support “independent journalism and media literacy.”

In practice, however, such efforts often result in government-approved messaging being amplified, while dissenting outlets don’t get funded.

Von der Leyen pointed to declining local journalism in rural communities and claimed: “This has created many news deserts where disinformation thrives…This is why we will launch a new Media Resilience Program – it will support independent journalism and media literacy.”

Despite the existing Digital Services Act already mandating age verification (and therefore digital ID) online, von der Leyen floated a new, even more restrictive direction for internet access among young people.

Keep reading

Cybersecurity Experts Warn EU Against Chat Control 2.0 Regulation Ahead of Key Votes

A group of more than 500 experts in cybersecurity, cryptography, and computer science from 34 countries has issued a clear warning against the European Union’s proposed Chat Control 2.0 regulation.

In a joint open letter, the signatories describe the plan as “technically infeasible” and caution that it would open the door to “unprecedented capabilities for surveillance, control, and censorship.”

We obtained a copy of the open letter for you here.

Their statement arrives just days ahead of a critical European Council meeting on September 12, with a final vote set for October 14 that will determine whether the regulation moves forward.

The proposed law would compel messaging apps, email platforms, cloud services, and even providers of end-to-end encrypted communication to scan all user content automatically. This would apply to texts, images, and videos, whether or not there is any suspicion of wrongdoing.

According to the researchers, such detection systems cannot coexist with secure communication. “On‑device detection, regardless of its technical implementation, inherently undermines the protections that end‑to‑end encryption is designed to guarantee.”

By forcing companies to monitor encrypted content, the regulation would introduce security weaknesses that could be exploited by malicious actors and hostile governments.

The scientists also emphasize the inaccuracy of the proposed approach. They argue that large-scale scanning systems produce unacceptable error rates and could generate enormous numbers of false reports.

Keep reading

Scandal: EU Paid Over $600,000 to USAID Media Network Accused of Election Manipulation Right After EU Vote

A bombshell report from Berliner Zeitung has revealed that Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission wired over €604,000 to the controversial media network OCCRP immediately after the 2024 EU elections. The revelation came in response to a parliamentary inquiry by AfD MEP Petr Bystron.

The OCCRP (“Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project”) includes German establishment outlets such as Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung. These are the very same outlets that ran smear campaigns against conservative and EU-skeptical politicians in the run-up to the election. Critics say the payment looks less like support for “investigative journalism” and more like a payoff for political services rendered.

OCCRP’s Track Record: Targeting Populists

This is not the first time OCCRP-linked media have interfered in European elections. In 2019, Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung detonated the infamous “Ibiza Affair,” toppling Austria’s successful FPÖ-government and driving the party’s EU election results down from 26% in the polls to just 17.2% at the ballot box.

In 2024, the same outlets again spearheaded attacks – this time together with Czech partner Denik N – falsely accusing politicians from six European countries of being “Moscow’s agents” because they gave interviews to Voice of Europe, a Prague-based news site critical of Zelensky’s regime.

Among those smeared were former Czech President Václav Klaus, ex-Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, and AfD candidate Petr Bystron. None were ever charged with any crime, yet OCCRP media blasted the claims across Europe. Bystron endured 23 house raids based solely on OCCRP’s “reporting.” After more than a year, not a single shred of evidence has been found.

NATO Narrative and Media Propaganda

The attacks mirrored findings by U.S. investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, who documented how NATO-linked networks financed smear campaigns to delegitimize critics of the Ukraine war. Rather than investigate, OCCRP outlets dutifully repeated the talking points – unverified, uncritical, and amplified millions of times.

Bought and Paid For

According to French outlet Mediapart, OCCRP has taken in nearly $50 million from U.S. sources, with funders holding veto rights over staff appointments and dictating yearly editorial agendas. The Panama Papers, for example, conveniently wiped out competition to U.S. tax haven Delaware. That wasn’t independent journalism – it was paid political warfare.

OCCRP and Trump’s Impeachment

The network even played a role in the 2019 impeachment drive against President Donald Trump, peddling CIA-fed stories that he withheld Ukraine aid. In reality, Trump was pressing Ukraine to investigate the Biden family’s corruption. One of Trump’s first moves after his reelection was to cut OCCRP’s funding from USAID.

Why Did von der Leyen Pay?

The question now is why Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission wired over half a million euros of taxpayer money to this network immediately after an EU election – especially when OCCRP’s record is riddled with election interference, propaganda campaigns, and ties to U.S. intelligence-linked funding.

As Berliner Zeitung concludes, this could be shaping up to be the biggest media scandal in postwar Europe.

Keep reading

US generals involved in European plan to send 10,000 troops to Ukraine – WSJ

Top US military officials have been involved in drawing up a plan for “security guarantees” for Kiev advocated by Paris and London that includes a massive troop deployment to Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing a European diplomat.

The scheme drawn up primarily by European army chiefs includes two groups of forces that are to be sent to Ukraine, according to the report. One of them would be tasked with training and assistance to the Ukrainian military, while the second would serve as a “reassurance force” for Kiev. The troops are to be deployed once Moscow and Kiev reach a peace deal.

A total of 26 nations agreed to contribute to “security guarantees” for Ukraine in various ways, French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week, following a meeting of the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ – a group of Kiev’s European backers.

The current commitments would allow for a deployment of over 10,000 troops to Ukraine, the WSJ source said, adding that the plan “received input from some US generals,” including the US head of the NATO Allied Command Operations.

Keep reading

Europe Advancing ‘Precise’ Plans For Troops In Ukraine, Backstopped By US

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times that European nations are developing detailed plans to potentially send troops to Ukraine as part of a future peace agreement, despite it being obvious to all the world that Moscow would never agree to this as a basis of peace or ceasefire.

Hawkish European leaders continue to claim they have support from President Donald Trump for pursuing such a plan, which would see a joint multinational force of troops from various European armies, backed by a US security guarantee. “President Trump made it very clear that the US would be part of the security backstop,” von der Leyen said.

“Security guarantees are paramount and absolutely crucial,” she described of the European consensus. “We have a clear road map and we had an agreement in the White House… and this work is going forward very well.”

She had also said that “President Trump reassured us that there will be [an] American presence as part of the backstop. That was very clear and repeatedly affirmed.”

Indeed Trump had declared immediately after hosting European leaders at the White House last month, “We’re willing to help, especially from the air – because no one has what we have.”

However, there still appears to be some distance between Washington and European expectations, with one senior official recently explaining to Axios, “Europe can’t drag out this war with unreasonable expectations and expect the US. to foot the bill. If Europe chooses to escalate, that’s their decision – but they risk turning a potential win into a loss.”

Von der Leyen admitted there’s a long road ahead in terms of organizing a joint commitment for a multinational ‘peacekeeping’ force for Ukraine.

“Of course, it always needs the political decision of the respective country, because deploying troops is one of the most important sovereign decisions of a nation,” she said, adding that “the sense of urgency is very high . . . it’s moving forward. It’s really taking shape.”

Her words were issued during a tour of European countries which lie close to Russia, which the Kremlin is sure to see as provocative in its own right – given for example she was at a military base in Estonia, and at one point was along the Poland-Belarus border, and in Bulgaria, and toured arms depots and factories in ‘NATO’s eastern flank’.

Keep reading

European delusions are prolonging Ukraine’s suffering

The stench of hypocrisy is thick in the halls of Brussels these days, where European leaders—clutching their champagne flutes and virtue-signaling press releases—continue to demand that Russia surrender unconditionally, even as their own militaries crumble under the weight of their own incompetence. While they preach about “democracy” and “territorial integrity,” they send Ukraine just enough weapons to keep the slaughter going, but never enough to actually win. Meanwhile, American taxpayers foot the bill for a war that Europe’s own generals admit they cannot sustain. Now, the Trump administration has had enough. According to leaked reports from Axios and The Atlantic, White House officials are openly accusing the EU of sabotaging peace talks with “unreasonable” demands, all while expecting the U.S. to bankroll their geopolitical fantasies. One senior official didn’t mince words: “The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost.”

The truth is as brutal as it is obvious: Europe wants this war to drag on—not because victory is possible, but because admitting defeat would shatter their illusion of global relevance. And so, they push Ukraine to reject any compromise, even as their own citizens freeze in energy poverty, their economies stagnate, and their armies reveal themselves to be little more than paper tigers. President Trump, ever the pragmatist, has seen through the charade. After high-stakes meetings with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, he’s made it clear: if Europe wants to play war games, they can pay for them themselves. But if they truly want peace, they’ll have to swallow their pride, accept the new territorial realities, and stop treating Ukrainian lives as bargaining chips in their desperate bid to cling to a fading unipolar order.

Keep reading

France orders hospitals to be ready for war by next year as Germany warns it is on alert should Putin use forthcoming military drills to ATTACK Europe

French hospitals have been ordered to make preparations for an imminent war in Europe as Germany says it is on alert for Russia‘s military drills. 

France‘s ministry of health has told health bodies across the country to prepare for a possible ‘major engagement’ by March 2026, according to documents obtained by Le Canard Enchaîné. 

The French government is predicting a scenario where the nation would become a supporting state that has the capacity to take a massive number of wounded soldiers from France and other European nations. 

The order aims to ‘anticipate, prepare and respond to the health needs of the population while integrating the specific needs of defense in the health field’.

The ministry of health added: ‘Among the risks identified, therefore, is the hypothesis of a major engagement where the health issue would consist of taking care of a potentially high influx of victims from abroad. 

‘It is therefore a question for our health system of anticipating the care of military patients in the civilian health system’.

It comes after Germany’s chief of defence Carsten Breuer said NATO and his nation’s forces will be on alert ahead of Russian military drills. 

Breuer said that though he doesn’t expect Vladimir Putin’s forces to attack NATO territory as Russia conducts military training in Belarus with the Zapad 2025 exercise, his nation would ‘be on… guard’.

Keep reading

Europe on the Path to a War Economy

In Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, Europe’s largest ammunition factory began production last week. What started clandestinely is now being publicly scaled with full firepower: the European Union is building its own war economy.

In the good old days in Germany, recessions were typically masked by state-funded infrastructure programs. The concept worked as long as the state did not overgrow, overregulate, or force the private sector into a destructive ideological agenda, as is the case with the green transformation. In other words, the economy was always able to clear away the debris left behind by the state.

Southern Europe Could Never Recover

In Southern Europe, where the state’s role has traditionally been high, monetary policy generous, and handling of public funds notoriously lax, this policy left nothing but infrastructure ruins and industrial wastelands. Local economies were never able to productively absorb the artificial credit distributed by Brussels. The fatal consequences of this pseudo-boom still shape the landscape today.

For economic historians, present-day Europe has long been a fascinating case study. Crisis followed crisis, with the public sector intervening each time with increasing volume. The attempt to install the Green Deal, a Keynesian pseudo-economy, must be understood in this context. The new Rheinmetall plant fits into this narrative.

The company invested half a billion euros to provide an annual capacity of up to 350,000 rounds by 2027. 500 new jobs are to be created, celebrated by politicians as a turning point and the beginning of a pan-European defense architecture.

Ceremony and Half-Truths

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger expressed satisfaction: “It was not easy for us to invest half a billion without orders. I am very grateful to you” — the words were directed at Defense Minister Boris Pistorius — “for keeping your handshake agreements. You are a man of word and deed.” A heavy dose of pathos and self-congratulation is evident here — politics and the defense industry are long intertwined.

Of course, this is only half the truth. Beyond the usual behind-the-scenes deals, politics has made it clear that it is ready to mobilize all means to build a German defense industry and provide sector companies with guarantees and subsidies where necessary. Big business, no risk.

After the collapse of the green economy, politics is now betting everything on the next pseudo-economy. The aim is to loosen dependence on America while exploiting the media spin that stylized Vladimir Putin’s Russia over years as a potential European invader. Whether this fear campaign will work in the long term remains to be seen.

Keep reading

EU science grants are funding Israeli military tech, data shows

The EU has given Israeli technology start-ups run by ex-IDF soldiers nearly half a billion euros in research grants since the start of the Gaza genocide. Some of the founders of these tech start-ups have served as reservists in Gaza, and in at least one instance the technology has been deployed to aid the genocide.

This article was originally published by ¡Do Not Panic!

The Horizon Europe program, described by the EU as ‘a scientific research initiative to develop a sustainable and livable society in Europe,’ has awarded around 475 million euros to 348 Israeli start-ups and research projects since October 2023, many of which are run by former IDF soldiers and intelligence officers.

In 2024, the EU awarded grants of €220m to 179 companies and initiatives run by Israelis. The scale of this funding, coming in a year when the world’s pre-eminent genocide experts all declared Israel was committing a genocide, a year in which entire cities were wiped out and tens of thousands of civilians murdered, is staggering.

In the same year Israel was also the third largest recipient, behind France and Germany, of ‘accelerator’ grants, a separate component of the Horizon program intended to support small and medium-sized companies working to improve life in Europe.

In 2025, the year in which Israel announced its full-scale ethnic cleansing plans and scholars estimated that 434,000 Palestinians in Gaza had been murdered by Israel, EU funding for Israeli tech initiatives still topped 110 million euros.

And this summer, with Gaza being driven officially into famine by Israel’s deliberate starvation campaign and as the Knesset was voting through a final solution, the EU was still dolling out tens of millions to companies run by ex-IDF personnel.

Horizon funding is critical to Israeli science and the Israeli economy. Since the inception of the programme in 1996, the EU has given Israeli companies, some of which have been directly spun out from the Israeli military, €3.4 billion euros. Israel is by far the largest non-EU recipient of Horizon, and its researchers are given an extremely generous, even curious amount of money for a program designed to support European researchers and European society. The president of Israel’s Academy of Sciences and Humanities said in May that cutting Israel off from EU research and innovation funds would be “almost a death sentence for Israeli science.”

Israel’s participation in the Horizon program has drawn attention in the past. Campaigners have argued the program is breaking its purely civilian mandate by giving money to Israeli institutions linked to the security state, and have demanded Israel is cut from the program. Under pressure with the genocide of Gaza moving into its final stages, the European Commission recently proposed a limited, partial ban on Israeli access to Horizon. It’s unclear though if the tepid move will garner enough votes from member states to pass. While Israel’s participation in Horizon has been the subject of controversy, the individuals behind these EU-funded initiatives, many of whom have a significant military background, have not previously been named. I’ve also found clear evidence that the program, which is mandated to support exclusively civilian applications, has funded military technology deployed during the genocide of Gaza.

Keep reading