In 2005, the French and Dutch rejected the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in referendums. But in 2007, the French and Dutch parliamentary assemblies adopted the same text, barely amended, under the name of the Lisbon Treaty. For the first time since the end of World War II, the French and Dutch ruling classes showed their sovereign contempt for their peoples.

Nineteen years later, much water has passed under the bridge, but practices have hardened, notably during the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020. The ruling classes developed a discourse that bore no relation to reality, presenting this disease as devastating, on a par with the Great Plague; imposing a single medication with mRNA, falsely presenting it as a vaccine; and finally decreeing, with the political support of the medical profession, the compulsory confinement of healthy people.

In 2022, all the member states of the European Union, including France of course, banned the Russian RT TV channel, both on air and via the Internet, three days after the start of the Russian military operation against the Ukrainian “integral nationalists”; a decision that violates the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Then, in France, comes the banning of the C8 channel, guilty of not saying the same thing as everyone else.

Today, three French judges decided to ban the presidential election favorite [Marine Le Pen] from running. Admittedly, their magistrates’ union had called on them to “block the far right”. Admittedly, the Constitutional Council had validated the principle of a provisional ban on civil rights in the first instance, again in defiance of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Admittedly, the acts for which Le Pen was on trial were identically committed by all the political parties of the time, without exception. The fact remains, however, that while claiming to deliver justice “in the name of the French people”, these judges showed their sovereign contempt for the vote of the French people.

Feeling the noose tightening around their necks, France’s leaders protest against the danger threatening them all, but do nothing.

Abroad, the Kremlin denounces a “violation of democratic norms”, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posts on his social network: “Je suis Marine!”. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini posts: “Let’s not be intimidated, let’s not stop: full speed ahead, my friend!”. Head of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk deplores an “abuse of the judicial system”, Donald Trump declares: it’s “a very big deal. It’s reminiscent of our country, it’s very much like in our country.”

This is the editorial from our paywalled “Voltaire, international newsletter”, n°127. For more information, do not hesitate to subscribe: 500€ per year.