I bet the vast majority of Americans, from both sides of the political aisle, would be appalled if they knew how globalist and authoritarian the European Union and most of its member countries have become in recent years.
Here is one vivid example of the authoritarian creep. Did you know that Europe is stifling free speech, especially via online platforms, in order to limit so-called hate speech? In November 2024, a 64-year-old German citizen was arrested for posting a picture of Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck with the caption “professional idiot” on X.
According to a German newspaper, “The public prosecutor's office in Bamberg in northern Bavaria confirmed on Friday that the suspect's flat had been searched, with a tablet device being seized, and that the Green party's candidate for chancellor in upcoming elections had asked authorities to prosecute an alleged insult against him.”
This is not a one-off situation. It is happening across Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.
This is also not a new phenomenon; for centuries, major European powers were ruled by despots.
However, what makes the situation occurring now particularly alarming is that the European Union, through blunt, bullying tactics, is attempting to make other nations surrender their sovereignty in order to be able to conduct business within the European Union (EU).
The primary way the EU is seeking to reset global commerce is via the innocuous-sounding Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
As my colleagues Justin Haskins and Jack McPherrin note in a recent Heartland Institute Policy Study outlining the CSDDD:
“It is not hyperbolic to say the CSDDD is one of the most economically restrictive and nakedly authoritarian laws in the history of western democratic civilization. The directive attempts to globally institutionalize sweeping ESG objectives by mandating practices for large companies doing business in the European Union, regardless of whether those companies are headquartered in the EU. Even worse, the CSDDD forces those companies to impose the same standards on many of the businesses operating within their global supply chains— fundamentally transforming all social and economic activity around the world. It is one of the gravest threats to freedom that Americans face today.”
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In a nutshell, the CSDDD would force nearly all U.S. businesses, from giant corporations to small family farms, to play ball with the EU’s byzantine environmental regulations and woke social agenda.
Of course, this would impose a bureaucratic burden that would cause many small- and medium-sized businesses to shut down or be gobbled up by large corporations that have the means to satisfy the maze of paperwork the CSDDD would inflict.
Like the Great Reset, the brainchild of the super-authoritarian World Economic Forum, the CSDDD seeks to execute a new global order wherein European elites calls the shots.
Fortunately, the Great Reset became a worldwide punchline. It is now mocked and ridiculed as an egregious example of globalism gone wild.
Yet, it would be unwise to believe that European authoritarian globalism has been defeated because the Great Reset is a universal joke and the WEF is on its heels. It appears that the European elites have learned at least a little bit from their COVID-era overreach.
I believe the Europeans elites who seek to reorder the global economy realized that their messaging failed but so did their overall strategy.
Instead of using the WEF to “convince” the world, namely the United States, to go along with their globalist scheme, they have decided to leverage the sheer enormity of the EU economy to force other nations to get onboard the globalism train.
By flexing the muscle of the world’s second-largest economy, the EU believes it can force worldwide “participation.”
Suffice to say, this is a major gamble that could blow up worse than the failed launch of the Great Reset.
On the other hand, I have a sneaking suspicion that many large U.S. businesses would likely kowtow to the EU’s demands, lest they lose precious market share in Europe.
All of this is surely complicated by the ongoing trade negotiations that are currently taking place between EU leaders and Trump administration officials.
I hate to have to say this, but I wish our European friends would be more appreciative of everything the United States has done over the past century or so to protect their freedom. It is ironic that Europe, which we saved twice from the authoritarian abyss, now spreads authoritarian globalism.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
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