Writing for The Spectator, Jonathan Miller argues that “it’s a pity Thierry Breton didn’t resign sooner.”
Miller begins: “The spectacular resignation of Thierry Breton from the European Commission suggests that the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is not quite as useless as her numerous critics suggest. Breton’s departure was overdue. Credit to von der Leyen for wielding the long knife.’
“Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness. After Mario Draghi’s taxonomy of European decline last week, the role of Breton as commissioner in charge of the single market was a nonsense. Draghi said Europe is on a path to self-destruction, becoming nothing more than an open-air museum, sustained by tourism.
After setting out the dire state of the EU economy, Miller goes on to argues that: “Breton has personally done more than anyone to inhibit technological progress in the European Union. He is responsible for the EU Artificial Intelligence Act which has made it impossible to build an AI startup in Europe. He is responsible for the Digital Services Act which has been used to stifle free speech in Europe. He has launched a war against X in Europe, threatening Elon Musk.
“Breton said Musk must comply with legal obligations under the EU’s digital rulebook hours – including proportionate and effective mitigation measures regarding the amplification of harmful content – before the billionaire interviewed US Republican candidate Donald Trump live on his platform.
“Musk replied on X, inviting Breton ‘to take a step back and literally, fuck your own face.’ Asked to comment on Musk’s comment, a spokesperson for the EU executive said, memorably, that the institution ‘does not comment on comments’.
“Breton’s case against X under the DSA over the handling of disinformation on the social media platform last December was nonsense, and only poisoned the reputation of the EU as a putative global censor.
“In preliminary findings published last month, Breton said that blue checkmarks used on the platform were deceptive. Users were assumed by Breton to be too stupid to realise that these marks are paid for. In response, Musk said the EU had offered a secret deal to technology companies that accepted Breton’s censorship regime.
“A tasty irony is that Breton announced his resignation on X, the very platform he threatened to censor. He used the platform to reproduce his inelegant resignation letter, including a thinly coded attack on von der Leyen herself. He claimed (accurately) that von der Leyen had pressured France, his home country, to submit another candidate to replace him.”
Worth reading in full.
