“In our countries, no one can walk the streets with a mask on their face,” and “yet we allow people to roam freely on the Internet without linking their profiles to a real identity.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was uncharacteristically frank on a range of sensitive issues in his speech this week at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. He suggested not only putting an end to online anonymity on social media but also forcing “media platforms to link every user account to a European digital identity wallet.”
In other words, what we’ve been warning about for a few years now — the worldwide emergence of digital identity systems and how they will be used, in the words of a 2018 WEF report, to “open up [or close off]” access to basic online (and offline) services — is now being openly discussed at Davos by a senior European politician. Eight months after the EU launched its digital identity program, the race is on to sell it to the public.
Ripping the Mask Off
Below is the relevant clip of Sánchez’s speech which includes the bizarre words: “in our countries, no one can walk the streets with a mask on their face,” and “yet we allow people to roam freely on the Internet without linking their profiles to a real identity.” Of course, not that long ago, no one could walk the streets of Spain and other European countries without a mask on their face, a fact that Sánchez, who was president of Spain throughout the pandemic, seems to have conveniently forgotten.
Sánchez’s proposal ostensibly seeks to curb the toxic effects of social media networks on what he calls “European democracy”, which is a bit rich given that the EU has done more than anyone to undermine European democracy. As the great, late British MP Tony Benn once said, “the powers that rule us talk about [democracy]. But they resist it with all the wiles and techniques at their command.”
The EU and national EU governments have been doing this for decades, as NC reader vao pointed out in a recent comments thread:
Case in points: the various referenda that took place in the past.
1) Referendum on the EU Constitution. As soon as that treaty was rejected in the Netherlands and France, the ratification process was interrupted, including in countries where referenda were to be held, and the process re-launched in a form that made sure popular opinion would have no impact on the final decision.
2) Except in Ireland, where a referendum was compulsory. When the Irish answered “incorrectly”, they had to vote again to make sure the new EU organization was accepted. Again, politicians will never take “no” for an answer.
3) A similar procedure was attempted regarding the compensations of losses of British and Dutch banks following the financial melt-down in Iceland. The voters rejected the loan guarantee packages twice. The Dutch and British government then attempted to get their way via judicial means.
4) Netherlands introduced the possibility of a consultative referendum in 2015. In 2016, a referendum was demanded regarding the EU-Ukraine association agreement — which treaty was rejected by 61% of the voters. After a period of dithering, the government decided to ignore the result and ratify the treaty anyway. A second referendum was held regarding a new intelligence and security services act — which law was also rejected. Again, the government passed the law anyway after minimal modifications. This was the second and last referendum to be held; by then, Dutch politicians were enough pissed off by the popular opinion and had already repelled the law instituting the possibility of a referendum.
The EU’s assault on European democracy has become even more brazen of late. In November, it tried to overturn an election in Georgia, which is not even an EU member, to no avail. It then had more success in pressuring Romania’s Constitutional Court to cancel the first round of the country’s election in Romania after a right-ring populist who favoured better ties with Russia won the most votes.
A few days ago, the former Commissioner for the EU’s Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who used to describe himself as the “enforcer” of the EU’s Digital Services Act before stepping down from that role, said the same could happen to Germany if the voters there also make the wrong choice in the upcoming elections.
“We have to prevent outside meddling and make our laws apply,” Breton said, referring to allegations of Russian involvement, based on bogus intel from the state intelligence services, before admitting actual EU interference. “We did it in Romania, and we will obviously have to do it in Germany, if necessary.”
This is the model of European democracy Sánchez wants to protect — one that has zero regard for elections in national member states. Incidentally, Breton joined Bank of America as an advisor just weeks after resigning from the Commission, in direct contravention of the EU’s own rules on lobbying bans for ex-commissioners. According to the Commission’s Code of Conduct, outgoing commissioners must respect a two-year cooling-off period before taking up a new role that involves lobbying or a potential conflict of interest.
Full Weaponisation of the EU’s Digital Services Act
In his speech, Sánchez also called for “the European regulation of Digital Services to be fully applied” as well as sanctions to be imposed on those who do not comply with it. Sánchez accused the owners of the social media platforms of wanting to increase their political power “by undermining our democratic institutions”. Many of those social media owners were not at the Davos this year since it clashed with Donald J Trump’s inauguration, and this time round Trump is their ticket to direct political power ally.
“We must ensure that social media executives are responsible for compliance with the rules on platforms, as is the case in other sectors,” said Sánchez.
Of course, Sánchez has one particular Big Tech owner in mind: Elon Musk, whose X platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been under investigation for over a year under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) over how it tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. The company has been accused of manipulating the platform’s systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility over other political groups. In recent months, Musk has intensified his meddling in countries around Europe, including the UK.
Sánchez also has one particular country in mind when it comes to spreading mis-and dis-information that is supposedly harmful to European democracy. No prizes for guessing which: Russia, he said, is “weakening democratic institutions and forces.”
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Nick Corbishley 