Breton made the statement on the French television channel RMC Story. Speaking about the upcoming national elections in Germany and the expectation that the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will perform well, Breton commented that "we did it in Romania and we will obviously do it in Germany if necessary."

Breton was referring to November's presidential election in Romania, where the results were annulled after a right-wing populist, C?lin Georgescu, unexpectedly won the most votes. The Romanian Constitutional Court claimed that this move had been mandated due to an online Russian interference campaign that had been carried out in the run-up to the election.

Breton didn't specify who the "we" was in his statement, but given that he is a Brussels politician, most assumed that he was referring to the European Union.

The cancellation of the election has become a global news story, and just this week, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance specifically pointed out the incident to showcase a lack of democracy in Europe while lambasting European elites at the Munich Security Conference,

András László, a Hungarian MEP from Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, likewise attracted attention when he responded to Breton's statement on X last month by saying that the European Union "refuses to respect democratic norms." He went on to accuse the EU of being willing to "cancel democracy" when it doesn't like the outcome of national elections in its member states. Entrepreneur and leader of the recently created U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk, who has been highly critical of the EU himself, retweeted László's remark with the simple comment, "Exactly."

The Hungarian fact-checking site Faktum decided to investigate how correct MEP László's remarks are. This issue takes on even greater relevancy in relation to the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which was adopted in 2022 and entered into force in 2024. Among its provisions, the DSA requires online platforms operating within the EU to censor content at the Brussels bureaucrats' behest when it allegedly violates EU law. The DSA likewise seeks greater transparency in terms of the sources of political advertising.

Several online companies, such as the search engine giant Google, have since indicated that they will refuse to comply with the DSA. Elon Musk's X has likewise been accused by the EU of being in violation of the DSA by disseminating problematic political content, although Musk has denied the accusations, claiming that the EU is merely trying to censor speech that it doesn't like.