« A bird in the flue ... | Main | 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate »
June 17, 2008
Ignoring the electorate
It seems that, as is now standard practice in the EU Ivory Tower, the vote in Ireland will simply be ignored, in contradiction to their own "Rules". The Irish have comprehensively rejected the Lisbon Constitution, but Brussels says it will go ahead anyway, that the Irish "got it wrong" and will have to do it again until they get it right.
It seems that, as usual, the Oligarchs in Brussels simply will not accept the fact that their Utopian vision for Europe is not shared by us all. In fact most Europeans do not want a political union even though we all like the idea of a Europe we can travel in freely and work anywhere. That is an economic union - not a political one. Even the "dream" of a single currency has its problems, because different countries within it interpret the "rules" for their economies differently and having a centrally fixed interest rate is not universally good as it means that individual states cannot slow or stimulate their own economies. Talk to the Irish and the inflation they are dealing with on that one. The fact that the so-called Treaty is in fact an "amendment" list and not a new or consolidated text which makes it impossible to read the document they are asking us to just accept, was supposed to ensure that most of us would not have access to it. In fact only 3% of the original has been changed, the rest is eye-blind meant to confuse and hide the fact that sovereignty is being stolen and subsumed to the unelected and unelectable.
Much is made of the "strengthening" of the EU Parliament. Really? Just what powers has Brussels transfered to the Parliament? Well, less a power, and more a bigger rubber stamp really. So thanks, but no thanks on that one. The Commission will still "propose" legislation and the Parliament will "adopt" the proposals - but there is still no direct election of the Commission or of the "President of the Commission" - usually another reject from one of the member states. More jobs for the "boys" all round. A bigger, sleeker and more generous (with our money!) gravy train.
Brussels can afford to ignore the electorate since they are not answerable to any electorate. The Commissioners are appointed by the "Council of Ministers" another unelected body, although the Mnisters are, of course, for the most part, elected by the voters in their own countries. The problem there is that they are able to distance themselves from the fallout created by the Commssioners - "honest people! It wasn't us, its the Commission!" when it comes to elections, failing of course to remind us that they appointed the Commissioner concerned. And who are the Commissioners? Usually failed or disgraced politicians from the member nations, each one having a certain number they can appoint, usually apportioned on a contributions basis. Now comes the problem, Brussels based Commissioners are res[onsible for over 80% of all the legislation currently approved or considered in our Parliament. In short, Westminster is irrelevant, we might as well scrap our legal system and Parliament and just accept that Brussels has direct Rule over our affairs.
Recently a British business was destroyed by our own Department responsible for food, agriculture and fisheries on direct orders from Brussels. The Brussels team were deliberately misrepresenting and interpreting their own rules and data and despite losing two court cases ordered Defra to issue a Statutory Instrument proscribing the use of any material from a NAMED company. Not only was that an abuse of power, it was a direct and flagrant breach of our constitution! Unwritten it may be, but it is still a constitution and we have spent centuries defending the principles it embraces. So the Labour Party's spineless surrender to an unelected Commissioner and his cronies who directly beneftted from this act of treason is nothing short of betrayal of the electorate here in the UK.
So, according to Brussels, the "Ratification" of the Lisbon Constitution must continue. In short, the electorate no longer matter. Democracy is well and truly dead in Europe.
Posted by The Gray Monk at June 17, 2008 07:32 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mt3.mu.nu/mt/mt-tb.cgi/5462
Comments
Hey you should put links to thing you referance
Posted by: skipjack at June 18, 2008 06:34 PM
I would if I could now find it. This particular case is about four years old and was widely reported at the time, but now seems to have vanished from the various news sites. I originally read it in the Daily Telegraph site, but it also appeared on the BBC News, Sky News and several others.
Posted by: The Gray Monk at June 19, 2008 06:25 AM
This is the new EU Mugabe-school of democracy
Posted by: Gorse Fox at June 21, 2008 08:50 PM