Dave Keating
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davekeating.substack.com
Dave Keating
@davekeating.substack.com
🇺🇸🇪🇺American by birth, European by choice
Brussels-based journalist www.DaveKeating.net
Find me on Substack: https://davekeating.substack.com/
Pinned
The agenda item at today's 🇪🇺#EUCO summit on 'climate & competitiveness' is chiefly about undoing some of the climate legislation that was passed during the 2019-2024 term (partly due to a 🇺🇸command).

Big ❓ for 🇺🇳#COP30: Will the EU PMs decide to scrap the planned 2040 target?
The 🇪🇺high court ruled today EU countries must recognise the same-sex marriages conducted by other member states in their own national law.

There are many questions about the ruling, which could mean that people living in Eastern EU simply need to have a ceremony in the West to be married at home.
November 25, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Dave Keating
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."

BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump’s Fury at BBC Gets Unnerving Results with Pro-MAGA Edit Stunner
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
The latest in this year of EU surrender to Trump.

"On Nov. 19 the 🇪🇺Commission made an outright retreat on its data and privacy rules."

"Brussels finally gave up on its decade-long dream of seeking to be the predominant global tech regulator that would rein in American tech titans."
Brussels is done being the world’s digital policeman
The “Brussels Effect” is dead. Now Washington is setting the pace on deregulation in Europe.
www.politico.eu
November 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Dave Keating
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
After spending years declining to rule on this issue for fear of sparking an intense backlash from the EU's East, the ECJ just ruled that EU countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
The EU just de facto legalised gay marriage
In a ruling similar to the 2015 US Supreme Court decision granting same-sex marriage in all states, the EU Court of Justice says EU countries must recognise all marriages from other member states.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:49 AM
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.

🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.

This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
www.reuters.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Dave Keating
Absolutely. On climate, you can’t deregulate your way to the future. You’re just reducing pressure to innovate in an world where the status quo is bad.
November 25, 2025 at 6:13 AM
"Flattery of Donald Trump is an integral part of the EU's tactics, no matter how humiliating the exercise. Avoiding disaster takes precedence over everything else. But does 'Daddy diplomacy' actually work?"

"Faced with allies willing to become vassals, appetite grows with eating."
Les limites de la “Daddy diplomacy” de l’UE
Bonjour !
lamatinaleeuropeenne.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Dave Keating
This story should be covered waaaaayy more than it is.

The US has sanctioned six judges if the international criminal court ICC, because Trump didn’t like them issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Nicolas Guillou, French ICC judge sanctioned by the US: 'You are effectively blacklisted by much of the world's banking system'
Six judges and three prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have been sanctioned by the Trump administration. In an interview with Le Monde, Guillou discusses the impact of these measures on ...
www.lemonde.fr
November 24, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Dave Keating
Lutnick on his meetings with EU leaders: "The idea is, 'Come on guys, embrace the ideas and the model of the Trump administration and you'll get a trillion of investment here.' So we're trying to teach them, encourage them to follow the Trump lead."
November 24, 2025 at 1:11 PM
#DigitalOmnibus

The good news: No more (or at least less) of those annoying cookie pop-ups in the EU.

The bad news: Digital rights campaigners say 🇪🇺President Von der Leyen is handing over Europeans' sensitive data to 🇺🇸 in order to appease Trump.
November 24, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Dave Keating
Pleasure having @davekeating.substack.com swing by the studio during his Paris weekend break to talk about the uproar around the EU's planned tweaks to GDPR and the AI Act. Thanks Dave!
youtu.be/NqQqi8QGEiU
Brussels under fire for softening grip on Big Tech • FRANCE 24 English
YouTube video by FRANCE 24 English
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
🇪🇺President von der Leyen statement on the 28-point 🇷🇺🇺🇸 peace plan for 🇺🇦:

"As a sovereign nation there cannot be limitations on Ukraine's armed forces that would leave the country vulnerable to future attack and thereby also undermining European security."

"Centrality of 🇪🇺 must be fully reflected"
Statement by President von der Leyen on Peace Discussions for Ukraine
Ukraine has been at the heart of many discussions over the past days.\nAny credible and sustainable peace plan should first and foremost stop the killing and end the war, while not sowing the seeds fo...
ec.europa.eu
November 23, 2025 at 12:03 PM
New: Following broadcaster complaints about 🇮🇱government get-out-the-vote campaigns, #Eurovision has introduced new voting rules against "disproportionate promotion campaigns" carried out or supported by governments or state agencies.
Eurovision unveils major voting rule changes for 2026
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced a series of changes to the Eurovision Song Contest voting rules for 2026 in a move it says is designed to strengthen trust, transparency and audienc...
www.rte.ie
November 23, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Here in Paris they are marking the 10th anniversary of the #ParisAgreement, as they digest the disappointing news from Brazil about the outcome of #COP30, which just ended.
November 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM
This is the general choice facing all of Europe at the moment.

So far our European leaders like von der Leyen, Starmer, Rutte and Merz have decided Europeans should lose their dignity rather than lose US support.

Will that calculation now change?
Ukraine faces losing dignity or US support with Trump’s plan to end war, Zelensky says | CNN
Ukraine is at “one of the most difficult moments” of its history, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday, as a proposal to end the fighting drafted by the United States puts pressur...
www.cnn.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
European leaders are scrambling today - afraid to publicly criticise the 🇺🇸🇷🇺 peace plan for fear of angering Trump, but behind the scenes terrified of the implications of a US-ordered 🇺🇦surrender.

An emergency 🇪🇺#EUCO summit may be called to figure out what to do.
November 22, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Dave Keating
Two European officials said that the frozen assets section of the Ukraine peace agreement was one of the most alarming since it implies authority over assets that are mostly immobilised in European institutions.

One said it was almost as if the text had been drawn up as “a deliberate provocation”.
November 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Many Europeans convinced themselves that Trump's public statements of frustration with Putin meant he was committed to 🇺🇦

Today they got a rude awakening. Washington presented a US-Russia peace plan to Kyiv which amounts to a surrender, with an ultimatum to accept it by Thursday or lose all 🇺🇸support
Leaked US-Russia peace plan angers Europe despite diplomatic statement • FRANCE 24 English
YouTube video by FRANCE 24 English
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Point 14 shows just how much Trump considers himself to be the "President of Europe" right now (as he put it).

According to the 🇷🇺🇺🇸 "peace plan", 🇪🇺 would give the €210bn frozen Russian assets (plus €100 extra!) to the US, which would invest it in 🇺🇦 and receive the profits.
Trump administration's 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan presented to Zelenskyy
The plan, which is still a draft and could change, was presented in Kyiv earlier Thursday.
abcnews.go.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Reposted by Dave Keating
We're told by 🇪🇺President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu's @eppgroup.bsky.social & @reneweurope.bsky.social that the #AIact is an unacceptable burden on businesses.

So then why did these same lawmakers design and vote for this law *just last year*? What changed since then? 🤔

We know what changed.
EU bends to US pressure again by changing AI Act
As Macron gave a speech in Berlin calling for European digital sovereignty, in Brussels von der Leyen yesterday proposed weakening the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act in response to US demands.
davekeating.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Protesters have parked billboards outside the 🇪🇺Commission.

“At the very moment 🇫🇷&🇩🇪 are hosting a summit on European digital sovereignty, von der Leyen is bowing to pressure from Trump & Big Tech in Brussels, announcing the biggest rollback of EU tech protections we’ve ever seen,” says Ava Lee.
EU bends to US pressure again by changing AI Act
As Macron gave a speech in Berlin calling for European digital sovereignty, in Brussels von der Leyen yesterday proposed weakening the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act in response to US demands.
davekeating.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Dave Keating
Europeans push back at U.S. peace plan for Ukraine seen as tantamount to capitulation
Europeans push back at U.S. peace plan for Ukraine seen as tantamount to capitulation
European countries pushed back on Thursday against a U.S.-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources ...
eualive.net
November 20, 2025 at 3:14 PM
My Brussels journey: I sat down with the MyBrussels podcast to talk about how I ended up here (believe it or not, unlike most expats it was on purpose!) and what I love about this city.

Listen here: www.visit.brussels/en/visitors/...
November 20, 2025 at 11:17 AM
We're told by 🇪🇺President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu's @eppgroup.bsky.social & @reneweurope.bsky.social that the #AIact is an unacceptable burden on businesses.

So then why did these same lawmakers design and vote for this law *just last year*? What changed since then? 🤔

We know what changed.
EU bends to US pressure again by changing AI Act
As Macron gave a speech in Berlin calling for European digital sovereignty, in Brussels von der Leyen yesterday proposed weakening the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act in response to US demands.
davekeating.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:59 AM