Macron Urges Trump to Lift Sanctions on European Officials

By Staff, Agencies

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked US President Donald Trump to lift sanctions imposed on several European officials, including former EU commissioner Thierry Breton and International Criminal Court judge Nicolas Guillou.

Breton, a French citizen who previously oversaw the EU’s tech regulations, was among five Europeans barred from entering the United States for leading what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as “organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.”

Judge Guillou, also a French national, was sanctioned over the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued for “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former “Israeli” War Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes in Gaza.

In a letter published by La Tribune Dimanche on Sunday and confirmed by the Élysée Palace, Macron argued that the measures were “unjustly imposed” and asked Trump to “reconsider these decisions.”

“The sanctions adopted against Thierry Breton undermine European regulatory autonomy and are based, moreover, on erroneous analyses,” Macron wrote.

“European digital regulation does not, in fact, have any extraterritorial reach and applies without discrimination, on European territory, to all companies concerned,” he added.

The French leader further argued that “the sanctions adopted against Nicolas Guillou undermine the principle of judicial independence and the mandate of the ICC.”

The US has long opposed what it considers excessive regulation of social media platforms in the EU, including the bloc’s 2022 Digital Services Act (DSA).

Breton played a central role in designing the rulebook, which imposes strict moderation requirements on tech companies such as X, Facebook, and Google.

US officials have accused the EU of using the law to stifle free speech and censor American social media users.

The letter comes as Macron pushes for tighter restrictions on children’s access to social media, saying he intends to discuss the issue directly with Trump.

Last week, Macron dismissed social media platforms’ arguments in favor of free speech as “pure bulls**t,” calling instead for full transparency in how algorithms shape online discourse.