‘Thought crime' and cancelled elections: how do JD Vance's Europe claims stand up?

The Guardian

14-02-2025

In JD Vance's confrontational and pugnacious speech at the Munich Security Conference, the vice-president ran through a series of examples to highlight his claims that Europe has gone off the rails. Here, we look at what he said – and whether it stacks up.
Speaking about 'our very dear friends, the United Kingdom', Vance claimed a 'backslide away from conscience rights' had 'placed the basic liberties of religious Britons in particular in the crosshairs'.
The British government, he said, had charged Adam Smith-Conner, a physiotherapist and an army veteran, with the 'heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own'.
Vance claimed that Conner told an 'unmoved' law enforcement officer that he was praying for an unborn son that he and a former girlfriend had aborted years before. 'Adam was found guilty of breaking the government's new 'buffer zones law', which criminalises silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200 metres of an abortion facility,' Vance said. 'He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution.'
Fact check
Smith-Connor was convicted of breaching a safe zone in October last year, after refusing repeated requests to move away from outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022.
The 51-year-old told the council the day before he would be carrying out a silent vigil as he had on previous occasions. On the day, a community officer spoke to him for an hour and 40 minutes and asked him to leave – but he refused. Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs after the case was brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.
Smith-Connor is receiving legal support from Alliance Defending Freedom International, an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group which states that it 'champions religious freedom through … advocacy efforts'. ADF International said it would be supporting Smith-Connor to appeal against the decision in July.
Smith-Connor's case was brought after a public space protection order was introduced outside the Bournemouth clinic in October 2022, which banned activity including protests, harassment and vigils.
October last year saw the introduction of the Public Order Act 2023 in England and Wales, which introduced buffer zones of 150 metres around abortion clinics to stop women being harassed with leaflets, shown pictures of foetuses, or having to pass by vigils.
The Scottish government was said to have begun distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay 'within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law'. He went on: 'The government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime in Britain and across Europe.'
Fact check
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act, introduced last year, introduced safe access zones within 200 metres of abortion clinics, banning harassing, alarming or distressing actions.
'Silent prayer' is listed among the banned activities to prevent mass silent vigils which have been used by large groups of US anti-abortion protesters such as 40 Days for Life who gather outside clinics to pressure women entering not to have an abortion.
A Conservative US TikToker erroneously claimed that silent prayer at home could break the law in Scotland. However the law states that the actions are banned if they are likely to cause alarm or distress to someone accessing abortion services. Silent prayer in a home which caused no distress and alarm to other would not fall under this category.
Vance told the Munich security conference that a former European commissioner had 'sounded delighted' that an 'entire election' in Romania had been annulled. Vance added: 'He warned that if things don't go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany too … But when we see European courts cancelling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we're holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard.'
Fact check
The US vice-president was referring to comments by the former European commissioner Thierry Breton. The former French minister had been speaking after the decision by Romania's constitutional court in December to annul the early results of the country's presidential election.
The court had intervened after declassified intelligence documents pointed to what was described as a massive and 'highly organised' campaign for the independent candidate Călin Georgescu, on the TikTok platform which was probably orchestrated by a 'state actor'. Georgescu has committed to stop all Romanian political and military support for Ukraine if elected.
Commenting on the case, Breton had said: 'Let's keep calm and enforce our laws in Europe when they are at risk of being circumvented … We did it in Romania, and we will obviously do it if necessary in Germany.'
Elon Musk intervened at the time on X, referring to 'the staggering absurdity of Thierry Breton as the tyrant of Europe'. Breton responded: 'Tyrant of Europe? Wow! But No Elon Musk: the EU has NO mechanism to nullify any election anywhere in EU. Not at all what is said in the video below related only to the application of the [Digital Services Act] and its moderation obligations. Lost in translation… or another fake news?'
Vance said that in Brussels 'EU Commission commissars' had warned citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest at 'the moment they spot what they've judged to be 'hateful content'. In Germany, he claimed police had carried out 'raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of 'combating misogyny' on the internet'.
Fact check
Under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission can ask a digital services coordinator in an EU member state to ask a judge to assess an application for a temporary restriction on access within the EU to a large online platform or search engine. The commission does also have the power to bypass the judge-led process in an 'urgent situation'. The commission has said that such an extreme measure must 'follow the due process' and 'would be limited in time'.
Restrictions on services can only be enforced where there is evidence of criminal offences involving threat to people's life or safety. Should the commission use its enforcement powers, its decisions are subject to judicial redress at the European court of justice.
German police carried out raids last March on the homes of people suspected of posting misogynistic hate speech on the internet, including those advocating rape or sexual assault. Police raided homes and interrogated 45 suspects in 11 states. None of the suspects were detained.
Vance said 'the government' had 'convicted a Christian activist for participating in Qur'an burnings that resulted in his friend's murder'. He went on: 'And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden's laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant – and I'm quoting – a 'free pass' to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.'
Fact check
Salwan Najem was given a suspended sentence and a fine by a court over statements he made in connection with four incidents of Qur'an burning in Stockholm. He had carried out the book burning with Salwan Momika, who was subsequently shot dead during a TikTok broadcast last month. Najem, who came to Sweden from Iraq in 1998 and has been a Swedish citizen since June 2005, told the court that his actions were legitimate criticisms of religion protected by Sweden's freedom of expression laws. Göran Lundahl, the judge in the case, said freedom of expression did not constitute a 'free pass to do or say anything'.
Vance cited the recent attack in Munich as reason for a 'new direction', suggesting the attack was typical. 'An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid-20s, already known to police, rammed a car into a crowd and shatters a community', he said.
Fact check
German police and prosecutors have said that an Afghan suspect in a car ramming in central Munich that injured at least 36 people was believed to have had an 'Islamist' motive and will answer to charges of attempted murder. They have not found links to a jihadist organisation such as the Islamic State group nor any accomplices.
According to the latest EU terrorism situation and trend report from Europol, there were a total of 120 terrorist attacks (98 completed, nine failed and 13 foiled) in seven EU member states in 2023. The highest number of terrorist attacks were perpetrated by separatist terrorists (70, all completed), followed by leftwing and anarchist actors (32, of which 23 completed). There were 14 jihadist terrorist attacks of which five were completed. Two rightwing terrorist attacks were foiled.