[Deutsche Welle] EP - ​​”We are letting Brussels decide and giving them the right to censorship”

Among ongoing debates at the European Parliament over media regulation, disinformation, and election interference, a coalition including RN (France), AFD (Germany ), Czech party, and Fidesz (Hungary), has voiced strong opposition to giving greater regulatory powers to Brussels (EU’s central institutions).

Although these parties come from very different ideological backgrounds, the issue of media and disinformation raises a pushback against centralized EU authority. These parties share a core concern: Preserving national sovereignty and defending freedom of speech against what they see as the EU’s overreach. As they argue, empowering Brussels to define and police “fake news” and "disinformation" risks opening the door to political censorship, manipulation, and the silencing of refusing opinions.

For them, the EU’s attempt to introduce centralized fact-checking mechanisms or platform regulations amounts to interfering with the right of European citizens to access and share information freely. While they recognize the dangers of foreign election interference, they emphasize that solutions must come from within member states rather than being imposed by EU-wide institutions. For example, Germany’s AfD expresses confidence in citizens’ ability to judge information themselves, while Hungary’s Fidesz warns against isolating people in “information bubbles” determined by central authorities. AfD (Germany) stresses the importance of maintaining national independence from EU mandates, framing the issue as one of democratic integrity and self-determination.

Debate in the European Parliament shows the ongoing push-and-pull in the EU between countries wanting to keep control over their own choices and the push for more shared European decisions, a tension that comes up not just with the media, but in many areas of EU politics.