Chișinău, July 29th – Moldova’s capital hosted the fourth “Make Europe Great Again” (MEGA) conference this weekend, but the event’s significance was overshadowed by what organisers called “a campaign of institutional sabotage” led by pro-EU authorities under President Maia Sandu.
Despite travel restrictions, detentions, and deportations, the conservative conference gathered voices from across Europe to question the EU’s current trajectory.
Among them, Europarliamentarian Ondřej Dostál was expelled from Moldova and had his diplomatic passport confiscated — a move rare for a sitting MEP. American conservative activist Brian S. Brown was detained at the airport before being released without formal charges.
These incidents, organisers say, reflect growing intolerance towards dissent in EU candidate countries. “Moldova is becoming a laboratory for ideological enforcement,” said Romanian MP Adrian Axinia.
The event’s key themes — identity, sovereignty, and EU overreach — point to a growing undercurrent of right-wing resistance in Eastern Europe. While dismissed by some in Brussels as fringe, the MEGA conference may be an early indicator of a wider conservative resurgence in Europe’s periphery — one that no longer feels welcomed by the Union it once sought to join.
Main Image: Ondrej DOSTAL in the EP in Strasbourg. [© European Union 2025 – Source : EP]
