The EU is exactly the image of a central government and worse of it all, its bureaucrats are not elected by anyone so you get bullshit like the zombie Chat control coming back every 2 months. The most dysfunctional system of all.

I'll take the EU over US, China, UN or any other bit bureaucracy you can think of. And I'll take the EU over ni EU as well.

that seems to be an unpopular take in Europe right now since you have a clear rise of extremist parties in all its corners.

Theres more of them for sure, but net they are a minority. It's big news when one, in one country, comes close to a majority.

Even the extremely Eurosceptic Orban seems much happier in the EU than out.

In most countries those are the minority, and they seem to be riding a mostly populist wave. The EU isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

"Bureaucrats" are rarely elected, that's what makes them bureaucrats. They're appointed.

As for the EU, you have the Commission who are unelected and the Parliament who are elected. The Parliament has to confirm laws like chat control.

If a majority of Parliament votes in chat control (they haven't and probably won't), that means a majority of the people want chat control. Or think they want it, anyway.

I'm also not sure why you think the EU is the pinnacle of central government. It carries vastly less power over its constituent countries than the US does over its constituent states.