GPT-4o: The Heritage Foundation’s quiet workshop to unravel the EU isn't an isolated event, but part of a systemic campaign. The EU must not wait to act. Democratic institutions are not self-defending

Strategic Threats to the EU from Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation Workshop — Urgent Risks and Policy Precautions

by ChatGPT-4o

The Heritage Foundation, a long-established U.S. conservative think tank, has intensified its global ambitions by hosting a March 2025 workshop in Washington D.C. with the goal of undermining the European Union (EU) and the European Court of Justice. This event—largely covert—serves as a transatlantic extension of the “Project 2025” policy agenda, a sweeping, ultra-conservative blueprint for dismantling major aspects of the U.S. federal government and replacing it with a privatized, nationalist regime. When placed alongside the troubling emergence of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a shadow agency headed by Elon Musk and embedded in the U.S. federal bureaucracy, a dangerous pattern of systemic institutional erosion becomes clear—one that could severely destabilize the EU.

This essay examines the key threats posed to the EU, tying the Heritage Foundation’s workshop and the Project 2025 playbook to DOGE’s real-time operational tactics. Together, they represent a new axis of transatlantic ultra-nationalism, privatization, and strategic disintegration of multilateral governance.

I. Summary of the Heritage Foundation's EU Workshop

Held on 11 March 2025, the private workshop convened by the Heritage Foundation brought together right-wing actors from Hungary and Poland, including Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) and Ordo Iuris, alongside American activists such as the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)​. They discussed a roadmap to rebrand the EU as the “European Community of Nations” — symbolizing a rollback of supranational power — and to weaken or eliminate the European Commission and European Court of Justice, both central guardians of EU law.

Key themes:

• Nationalist sovereignty over multilateral cooperation

• Rollback of judicial independence

• Suppression of LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive healthcare

• Enhanced religious conservatism as a political weapon

This vision overlaps directly with Project 2025’s goal of dismantling what it calls the “Administrative State” and imposing conservative orthodoxy across all levels of government​.

II. Alignment with Project 2025: A Coordinated Transatlantic Playbook

Project 2025 is not a mere U.S. policy guide. It is a political infrastructure and mobilization machine, complete with:

1. A personnel database to staff government with ideologically aligned operatives.

2. A Presidential Administration Academy for training future loyalists.

3. Agency-specific plans to dismantle regulatory frameworks on Day One of a conservative presidency​.

This is echoed in the EU workshop's focus on weakening independent institutions, promoting anti-EU narratives, and creating a parallel elite class loyal to national governments rather than European norms.

The unifying ideology: disempowerment of democratic checks and balances in favor of ultra-conservative, nationalist, and sometimes religious authoritarian governance.

III. DOGE: A Glimpse Into the Future of European Disintegration?

DOGE, under Elon Musk’s leadership, offers a dystopian case study in real-time authoritarian capture of government:

• Embeds Musk-affiliated staff into federal agencies without normal vetting

• Cuts regulatory staff, especially in DEI, education, and environmental offices

• Cancels contracts and programs, replacing them with private sector (often Musk-owned) alternatives

• Gains access to sensitive public data and infrastructure, potentially feeding it to private AI tools like Grok​​

Imagine such a model replicated in the EU: right-wing national governments (e.g., Hungary, potentially Slovakia or Italy) could emulate DOGE to gut EU-aligned institutions, use executive fiat to disempower oversight bodies, and redirect funds toward private or ideologically aligned actors.

DOGE shows that a blueprint exists for how to hollow out a democratic administrative state from the inside out, rapidly, and with minimal oversight.

IV. Risks to the EU

Based on the convergence of these actors and agendas, the EU faces the following critical and imminent risks:

1. Erosion of Judicial Authority

The push to neutralize the European Court of Justice would strip the EU of its binding legal authority, replacing law with “soft” intergovernmentalism subject to national veto.

2. Ideological Capture of Education and Media

Education and cultural programs may be targeted to promote ultra-conservative narratives, just as Project 2025 intends for U.S. schools and media agencies like NPR​.

3. Privatization of Public Infrastructure

Inspired by DOGE, future national governments may privatize sectors such as energy, health, or defense by granting contracts to ideological allies—undermining EU procurement rules and standards.

4. Fragmentation of EU Digital Governance

DOGE’s AI-data control and digital infrastructure plans raise concerns about how far-right governments may weaponize digital sovereignty debates to create national firewalls against EU tech law.

5. Weakened Civil Liberties

The EU’s human rights frameworks—especially in areas like LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive healthcare, and anti-discrimination—could be rolled back under coordinated pressure from groups like Ordo Iuris and ADF.

6. Authoritarian Norm Diffusion

DOGE’s model creates a repeatable formula for democratic backsliding. If the EU cannot prevent diffusion of this model, authoritarian contagion may spread rapidly.

V. Immediate Policy Precautions for the EU

To safeguard democratic integrity and counteract this threat architecture, the EU should act decisively:

1. Create an EU Task Force on Authoritarian Norm Diffusion

   • Track cross-border coordination among conservative actors (MCC, Ordo Iuris, Heritage Foundation).

   • Map political funding and influence operations across Atlantic networks.

2. Reinforce Judicial Autonomy

   • Provide special protections for ECJ decisions and judges under national assault.

   • Penalize member states that block enforcement of EU law.

3. Harden Digital Infrastructure

   • Audit member-state digital sovereignty initiatives for alignment with EU law.

   • Prevent national AI systems from using public data without independent oversight.

4. Expand Strategic Communications

   • Launch a public diplomacy initiative to counteract Heritage/MCC propaganda, emphasizing the EU’s democratic values, legal integrity, and economic benefits.

5. Reform Article 7 Mechanisms

   • Accelerate enforcement against rule-of-law violators, even if unanimity thresholds are hard to reach. Use conditional funding as leverage.

6. Protect NGOs and Independent Media

   • Increase funding for civil society and journalism under threat from nationalist governments.

   • Create a legal defense fund for journalists and researchers documenting authoritarian practices.

7. Coordinate with Allies

   • Align closely with Canada, Japan, and liberal democracies to form a counterweight alliance to the Heritage-Musk-Trump axis.

   • Support U.S.-based civil society groups resisting Project 2025 and DOGE through EU diplomatic channels.

Conclusion

The Heritage Foundation’s quiet workshop to unravel the EU is not an isolated event, but part of a systemic campaign. Combined with the chilling real-world example of DOGE and the formalized machinery of Project 2025, it signals a dangerous pivot: from culture war to institutional war.

The EU must not wait to act. Democratic institutions are not self-defending—they require vigilance, foresight, and preemptive protection. Project 2025 and DOGE are warnings. Whether the EU heeds them may well determine the future of liberal democracy in Europe.