1. 🇫🇷 RN’S HISTORIC LOCAL SURGE

France’s March 22nd municipal elections delivered a stunning result: The conservative Rassemblement National (RN) claimed what the party itself called its “greatest breakthrough in history.” According to the European Conservative, with a 57% turnout, RN candidates racked up approximately 1,300 municipal officials elected in the first round and garnered a three-to fourfold increase in municipal councillors in the second round.

The RN prevailed in a range of medium-sized cities, including Agde, Carcassonne, Carpentras, and Menton, and broke into new territory, including Montargis. In Nice, France’s fifth-largest city, RN-allied candidate Éric Ciotti defeated the Macronist incumbent outright.

The Left’s strategy of allying with the far-left La France Insoumise backfired spectacularly. In Clermont-Ferrand and La Flèche, two places that have been socialist strongholds for over 4 decades, voters elected conservative leaders.

The message from French voters is clear: the conservative party is no longer just a protest vote; they’re taking the reins.

2. 📺 BRUSSELS THREATENS BROADCAST

The European Commission is evaluating another expansion of its Digital Markets Act following an appeal from European broadcasters who want smart TVs and virtual assistants made by predominantly American tech companies to be brought under the DMA’s “gatekeeper” obligations.

The request, made by the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe, whose members include Italy’s Mediaset, France’s Canal+, and Luxembourg’s RTL, also featured several European organizations as signatories, such as the Association of European Radios, the European Broadcasting Union, and the European Association of Television.

But as the Commission looks to expand the scope of the DMA, they have found themselves on increasingly unstable footing. Under their digital regulatory framework, a platform must generate at least €7.5 billion in annual EU revenue or hold a market cap of €75 billion to qualify as a gatekeeper. American smart TV and virtual assistant operators, however, don’t clear that bar. In fact, they don’t come close.

This obstacle hasn’t deterred European broadcasters though. To sidestep the issue, they have requested the Commission to adjust their criteria and ground their decision on qualitative, rather than quantitative, factors.

The precedent at stake, however, is just as dangerous as the proposal is ridiculous. Brussels hasn’t been subtle about targeting American companies to help subsidize their European rivals, but for the request to come from European companies themselves is an incredibly troubling development. If the Commission were to acquiesce to their wishes and designate the US smart TV and virtual assistant operators as gatekeepers, the decision would all but open the floodgates by incentivizing European companies to lobby for their American competitors to be designated as a gatekeeper even if they don’t meet the threshold.

While originally intended to ensure so-called “fair competition,” the DMA is poised to allow the exact opposite to happen by permitting the DMA to be weaponized by European tech companies to kneecap their American peers. If Brussels doesn’t adjust its approach, it risks setting a dangerous precedent with the potential to further inflame a transatlantic relationship which is already on shaky ground.

⚡ MEMBER COUNTRIES PUSH BACK AGAINST ETS

Brussels’ regulatory system is strangling European businesses, and member states have had enough. Last week, 10 EU member countries came together to discuss the Emissions Trading System (ETS), a carbon output program that strangles businesses that operate in the EU.

Energy prices across the EU have been pushed to breaking point by years of heavy-handed green regulation. The EU’s Emissions Trading System forces companies to pay for every ton of CO₂ they emit, piling costs on businesses already struggling. Now the EU is a place where employers can’t compete and working families can’t keep up.

These member states, including Italy and Austria, are demanding that Brussels ease the Green Deal-style regulations. Instead, the EU said it would “review” the system by July.