The one sacred entity?
There were several rather interesting and, even, amusing moments during the debate at the conference in Vienna that I took part in. The discussion was whether the European Union was a democratic entity or not. (I hope all our readers can work out which side I was on.)
My opponent, a charming French Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform, the leading perestroika institution in this country (they are for it but acknowledge that a few, very few, things need to be changed and, possibly though not necessarily, improved) maintained that the democratic nature of the Union displayed itself in the multiplicity of political layers through which decisions had to be filtered.
The idea that multiplying political layers to the point where nobody understand how decisions are taken or implemented should be a definition of democracy is rather an odd one, but even odder was her assertion that national parliaments or some other political bodies – she seemed a little vague – can reject EU legislation.
The audience consisted largely of people who either came from the new member states, whose aim was to prove that these states were doing extremely well and being trés communautaire, and representatives of various financial firms and banks, interested in investment in those countries, but mostly (especially if they were American) worried by the economic non-development of the EU.
Few of them had given any thought to the democratic accountability or legitimacy of the whole project. During the discussion one European member of the audience stood up and said to me in tones of horror that if one did not have all these rules, regulations and institutions the EU could not exist.
There was an almost relieved laughter when I said that the end of the EU would not mean the end of the world, though, clearly there was a great deal of horror at such a suggestion.
The EU is, after all, merely a political institution that is trying to turn itself into a state. It is quite extraordinary that people who could blithely dismiss states, nations and countries that have existed for centuries as being irrelevant, whose time had expired, should get so shocked at the thought that the blessed Union, too, is mortal and can pass any minute (well, within the next few years). Not very logical, these Europhiles.
My opponent, a charming French Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform, the leading perestroika institution in this country (they are for it but acknowledge that a few, very few, things need to be changed and, possibly though not necessarily, improved) maintained that the democratic nature of the Union displayed itself in the multiplicity of political layers through which decisions had to be filtered.
The idea that multiplying political layers to the point where nobody understand how decisions are taken or implemented should be a definition of democracy is rather an odd one, but even odder was her assertion that national parliaments or some other political bodies – she seemed a little vague – can reject EU legislation.
The audience consisted largely of people who either came from the new member states, whose aim was to prove that these states were doing extremely well and being trés communautaire, and representatives of various financial firms and banks, interested in investment in those countries, but mostly (especially if they were American) worried by the economic non-development of the EU.
Few of them had given any thought to the democratic accountability or legitimacy of the whole project. During the discussion one European member of the audience stood up and said to me in tones of horror that if one did not have all these rules, regulations and institutions the EU could not exist.
There was an almost relieved laughter when I said that the end of the EU would not mean the end of the world, though, clearly there was a great deal of horror at such a suggestion.
The EU is, after all, merely a political institution that is trying to turn itself into a state. It is quite extraordinary that people who could blithely dismiss states, nations and countries that have existed for centuries as being irrelevant, whose time had expired, should get so shocked at the thought that the blessed Union, too, is mortal and can pass any minute (well, within the next few years). Not very logical, these Europhiles.
posted by Helen at 3:25 PM
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