Crackdown on Child Abuse Welcomed by MEPs

A senior MEP says he supports child protection but defends national legal sovereignty and harsher penalties against child abusers, including medical castration.

Anders Vistisen was speaking on Wednesday in a key plenary debate on the proposal to combat child abuse across the EU.

Vistisen emphasized both his strong support for protecting vulnerable children and his firm “opposition to any EU overreach into national judicial competences.”

In closing, he appealed to MEPs in Strasbourg to uphold both the “moral imperative of child protection and the democratic value of preserving national legal traditions within the EU.”

He told his other deputies,

“Let me be clear: this legislation is not just about fighting abuse, it’s about harmonising criminal law and creating a brand new EU agency.

“It is not about helping children, it’s an EU federalist power grab, an excuse to expand Brussels bureaucracy at the expense of national democratic control.

“But let me be clear, if it was up to me, sexual offences against children would lead to medical castration, that’s a real deterrent, that’s real justice.

“But oftentimes in Brussels, this is considered barbaric and criminal but be understood and the victims are expected to quietly move on.

“We don’t need another EU centre; we need local action, national laws, and strong borders because protection against child abuse begins at home, not in Brussels.”

Meanwhile, ECR MEP Assita Kanko  says that updating and strengthening the EU’s legal framework to tackle child sexual abuse is an essential step to protecting children and punishing perpetrators.
 
A draft directive seeks to revise and reinforce the legal framework across the EU, especially concerning the definition of child sexual abuse material, which would include AI-generated images and instruction manuals on how to sexually abuse children.
 
Other positive aspects of the draft, she said, include addressing the problem of statutes of limitation that limit victims’ options to pursue justice.
 
Kanko, the ECR Group’s coordinator on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, said: 

“We are taking an important step in the fight against one of the most horrific forms of crime.Every day that we hesitate, children continue to suffer.
 
“Child abuse today is happening not only behind closed doors, but in livestreams, deepfakes and online networks that are growing faster than our legislation can cope with.The system as it stands now is failing our children.
 
“Perpetrators hide behind outdated legislation and victims are left with lifelong trauma, without recognition or justice.
 
“The statute of limitations must be extended so that victims have time to speak up – not when the clock says so, but when the victim decides.”