Calling the sanctions “an unacceptable personalisation of EU policy, a dangerous precedent for the independence of the European Institutions and an attack on the EU’s regulatory sovereignty,” the parliament’s top officials added: “The European Parliament and all other EU institutions should jointly ensure that similar attacks against current or former members of the EU institutions are met with a systematic and coordinated response.”
The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group, the political home of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group did not support the statement.
Breton and four other European nationals were targeted by the U.S. sanctions in late December. The penalties were the first Washington has levied at an EU policymaker and marked a new low in transatlantic relations.
The statement added that the “Parliament welcomes the Commission’s decision to grant legal and financial assistance” to Breton.
Breton welcomed the statement of support. “When bullied, the EU must stand firm — on principles & on action,” he wrote on social media. “I welcome the European Parliament’s rejection of the US visa ban targeting me. This is not about one individual. It is about our capacity to vote our own laws without any interference.”
The French former commissioner told POLITICO in an interview that the sanctions had arisen from a “major misunderstanding” about the EU’s Digital Services Act, and insisted he respects U.S. freedom of speech traditions.
“People imagine that the DSA was conceived to have extra-territorial reach. That’s completely false,” he said.
The Commission slapped tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s X with a €120 million fine last month under the DSA, while Apple and Meta were fined hundreds of millions of euros last year for breaking separate digital antitrust rules.