At the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Europe subcommittee session on Tuesday, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Deputy Director at the Migration Policy Institute, was asked by MAGA-aligned U.S. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), “Would you agree, yes or no, that the member states of the European Union are also sovereign independent nations?” Banulescu-Bogdan replied, “Yes.”
[Note: The Migration Policy Institute is a non-partisan think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., which provides data, research and analyses of international migration and refugee issues.]
Luna shared her quick exchange with Banulescu-Bogdan on X (below), and added: “European nations deserve to have their sovereignty respected, yet the EU often punishes countries that step out of line with its policies. It’s time to ditch the EU and restore sovereignty to individual nations, in Europe and across the globe.”
The official X account of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied to Luna: “Sovereignty includes the sovereign choice to be strong together. And to be respected for that” with an emoji of the European Union flag.
Sovereignty includes the sovereign choice to be strong together. And to be respected for that
https://t.co/CZ3Gr6op8i
— French Response (@FrenchResponse) February 11, 2026
Note: In January, Luna was criticized by pro-EU and pro-Ukraine advocates for meeting with a delegation from the Russian Duma in Washington, D.C. The Chairman of the State Duma is Putin loyalist Vyacheslav Volodin, who has claimed, according to the Crimean Human Rights Group, that the death penalty is fair punishment for Ukrainian authorities, referring to them as a ‘neo-Nazi regime’ and ‘fascists’. (Luna has consistently opposed U.S. military and financial aid packages to Ukraine.)
French journalist Annie Dufour responded to the French Ministry’s post: “Rep. Luna regurgitates Kremlin Propaganda every time she opens her mouth. She spends all her time with Russian officials, praises them and spits on Ukraine. Destroying the EU is one of Putin’s main goal.”
Note: During the House Committee session, Banulescu-Bogdan also said in her written testimony: “For the United States, one element of creating a strong domestic immigration system will be supporting a strong global approach to migration, in partnership with European allies. While short-term, emergency measures (from sanctions to temporary border closures to visa restrictions) are often appropriate in the immediate aftermath of weaponization, claiming extraordinary or ‘wartime’ powers should not become the norm.”