Commission Vice-President Jourová: "We can see a lot of people who would not hesitate to use the methods of the Nazis.”

European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová (Values and Transparency) used what is likely to have been one of her final public appearances before the end of the current Commission's mandate to give a strongly worded warning about the dangers posed by the resurgence of the far right in Europe, and to issue a rallying cry to mainstream political parties to take voters' concerns more seriously.

Taking part in an animated question and answer session with some fifty representatives of EU civil society at a Brussels event organised by the NGO Defend Democracy (disclaimer: I used to be a member of its supervisory board), the Czech Commissioner reminded the audience that she had once been jailed for a month in her home country on corruption charges that were later dismissed.

Asked by an audience member if anyone had helped her during her time in jail she said, to laughter: “Yes. My son. He set up a website saying: ‘mum is innocent’."

In response to a question from Defend Democracy founder Alice Stollmeyer about the prospects for democracy following the recent elections in Europe "and other parts of the world", Jourová expressed deep concern about the resurgence of the far right. “We can see a lot of people in national parliaments and even in the European Parliament who would not hesitate to use the methods of the Nazis.”

But she also criticised mainstream political parties, saying their failure to set out clear ideas to voters and not delivering on their promises had led to "resignation" among voters. “People want to have a plan. Tell people what the plan is! Now we are harvesting complacency. Populists and nationalists are now on steroids.”

Her one regret, Jourová said, was that the Commission not been able to do more to protect the European media landscape. She lamented the spread of disinformation and what she saw as the role of Big Tech in undermining independent media and said: “We need to fix the systemic failure of the market”.

In closing comments, Jourová invited audience members to visit her in Prague after the end of her second and final term in office. "You can find me at Charles University.