Emmanuel Macron and the French political class in general, with the exception of certain voices at the National Rally, condemned on Wednesday the decision of the Trump administration to ban former European Commissioner Thierry Breton and four European personalities for their desire to regulate digital platforms, seeing it as an attack on European sovereignty.
“These measures amount to intimidation and coercion against European digital sovereignty,” the French president denounced on X, promising to continue to defend “our regulatory autonomy”.
The Trump administration announced sanctions on Tuesday, in the form of a travel ban in the United States, against five European personalities committed to strict regulation of tech and against online disinformation, including Thierry Breton who himself denounced a “wind of McCarthyism”.
Commissioner for the Internal Market from 2019 to 2024, the Frenchman was the architect of the European Directive on Digital Services (DSA) which imposes regulations on platforms, such as the reporting of problematic content, judged by the United States to be an attack on freedom of expression.
This European framework, which “was adopted democratically”, “is strictly within the European field of competence and does not target any third country”, recalled the Minister of the Economy, Roland Lescure, on the Bluesky network, competitor of X.
“Not a colony of the United States!”
Several French MEPs also stepped up to the plate. “We are not a colony of the United States! We are Europeans, we must defend our laws, our principles, our interests,” stormed the social democrat Raphaël Glucksmann on X.
For Nathalie Loiseau (Horizons), “let’s make no mistake: behind this measure, it is the sovereignty of Europeans to decide on their laws and enforce them that is under attack.”
The leader of the Renaissance party, Gabriel Attal, challenged his RN counterpart, Jordan Bardella. “Will Donald Trump’s French admirers find the energy to react to a new challenge to our sovereignty by a country that is nevertheless an ally?” he said, in reference to the video that went viral in which Jordan Bardella wondered where the American president found “all this energy”.
In the RN precisely, party to the anti-EU discourse and little criticism of Donald Trump’s policies, opinions were divided. “The Trump administration is not only wrong on the merits, but is wrong on the image it sends of the United States to the whole world,” criticized its vice-president, Sébastien Chenu, on RTL.
“They are showing a lot of patience”
But two RN MEPs showed understanding of the American decision. “Thierry Breton had threatened in 2024 the owner of the social network to enforce EU regulations. A visa removed a year and a half later, they showed a lot of patience!”, judged Virginie Joron in reference to the disputes between Elon Musk and the EU.
The United States “will not sacrifice itself for a continent without freedoms where we even cancel elections”, in reference to the Romanian presidential election, added Catherine Griset.
EU calls for clarification
The European Union on Wednesday demanded “clarifications” and strongly condemned these “unjustified” sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. In Brussels, the Commission indicated that it had “requested clarifications from the American authorities”. “If necessary, we will respond quickly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures,” she protested in a statement.
