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The EU is a sham democracy
Sadly I agree with Allister Heath
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...leaders-proof/
Thank you, Eurocrats, for being yourselves. The best cure for Europhilia is always to observe the EU’s big beasts at their unguarded worst, wheeling and dealing in their natural habitat, unencumbered by any attachment to democracy, accountability or even basic morality.
The spectacle of the past few days made for compulsive watching: we witnessed rare footage of the secretive process that propels so many retreads and second-rate apparatchiks into positions of immense power in Brussels and Frankfurt, utterly disregarding public opinion.
Peeking into Europe’s dystopia was certainly the right medicine for pre-Brexit Britain, guaranteed to convert erstwhile moderates into raging Brexiteers as they looked on, aghast, at the shocking disconnect between elites and people.
Everything that is wrong with the EU was shamelessly on display: a Franco-German stitch-up; smaller countries being bulldozed, especially Eastern Europeans; a constitutional coup which sidelined the (useless) European Parliament; the fact that so many of the new generation of EU leaders have had brushes with the law that would have terminated their careers in the US or UK; their explicit commitment to a “United States of Europe” and a “European army” (about which we keep being lied to); and the singing of a national anthem we were promised wouldn’t exist when the European constitution was voted down.
For the past three years, the debate in Britain has missed the point: Brexiteers argue that we must leave because we voted to do so, rather than because the EU is bad; Remainers that we musn’t leave because it’s too risky, rather than because the EU is good. But we’ve forgotten what unites 65 per cent of the public, including many Remainers: a profound dislike of the EU as it actually is, of its preposterous schemes, its authoritarian nature, its commitment to harmonising and centralising everything.
At times like these, it is obvious that there is no – and can be no – European democracy. For that you would need a genuine demos – a people – and to give them real power – kratos, in Greek. But almost nobody feels primarily European, and the average Sicilian has little in common with a random Finn. There is a such a thing as a metaphysical, abstract Europe; but in practice, no workable common European nation. While the EU apes some of the rituals of democracy, they are a sinister sham, and will always be. The EU is a technocratic empire, and can be nothing else. We must either give up on centuries of democratic, inclusive political progress, or leave.
In any case, as imperial ruling classes go, Europe’s is pathetic. Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission president-designate, herself the daughter of a Eurocrat, has wasted many depressing years as German’s defence minister, presiding over a decrepit and underfunded Bundeswehr. A devastating parliamentary report earlier this year exposed planes that can’t fly and guns that don’t shoot. Fewer than a fifth of its helicopters are combat ready.
It is almost impossible to find anybody in Germany who has a good word to say about von der Leyen, her appointment a clear case of rewards for failure. “Our weakest minister”, one said. It gets worse: a parliamentary committee has launched an inquiry into a spending scandal in her department, relating to massive contracts awarded to consultants. But she supports a United States of Europe and an EU army, so what other qualifications are required?
Josep Borrell’s woes are equally recent, and haven’t prevented his nomination as foreign policy chief. Less than a year ago, as Socialist foreign minister in Spain, he was fined €30,000 (£26,900) for insider trading. The regulator ruled he had engaged in “a very serious violation” of securities law when he sold shares in Abengoa in 2015, “having privileged information on this company”. As champagne socialism goes, this takes some beating and he refused calls to resign. He also supports the disgusting clampdown on Catalonia, has made trouble over Gibraltar and agreed to set up a joint cybersecurity group with Russia last November – a move that won’t end well. Last but not least, he will be worse than useless on Iran: in an interview with Politico, he said: “Iran wants to wipe out Israel. Nothing new with that. You have to live with it.” His appointment will prove catastrophic.
As for Christine Lagarde, the new European Central Bank head, she is neither an economist nor a banker but a competition lawyer. Let’s hope that the era of boom and bust has miraculously come to an end, or else the euro could be in trouble. Having served (and messed up) as head of the IMF, a political position, is no substitute for hands-on understanding of financial markets and economics. She was a full participant in the Project Fear anti-Brexit propaganda.
Worse, she too has been embroiled in scandal. She was caught in a row involving Bernard Tapie, a controversial businessman and politician who served time for fraud. While France’s finance minister, she agreed to an arbitration panel to determine a dispute involving the tycoon which led to him being awarded a huge payout, since reversed. Investigators claimed that she approved the scheme because Tapie backed Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign: this, they alleged, was a way of thanking him with taxpayers’ money. She denied the allegations, which could have landed her with a one-year jail term. She was found guilty of “negligence” but, astonishingly, the Cour de Justice de la République waived any punishment or criminal record, citing her “international reputation” and role in dealing with “the international financial crisis” as IMF boss.
Who should govern us? Is it von der Leyen, Borrell and the others, none of whom any of us were asked to choose or are able to sack? Is it a group of apparatchiks with dubious pasts and almost no name recognition outside their own countries, operating in opaque, top-down bureaucracies? Or is it well-known, heavily scrutinised UK politicians, who can now be recalled if they engage in wrongdoing?
Brexiting won’t be easy: the EU’s latest leaders are hard-core federalists, and won’t cut us any favours. But leave we must, and as soon as possible.
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I guess it's the best decision they ever made.
Originally Posted by The Lawspeaker
or etc etc.
, unlike other political entities.
United States
England
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