The fundamental reform that’s needed of the EU (Editorial,11 November) is a rethink of the view of it as an ever-more integrated superstate, in favour of one in which the constituent countries agree to use their collective resources to protect and further democracy throughout the union. In specific, and in managing the forces that directly or indirectly threaten it,such as climate change, terrorism, or big business,immigration, international criminal activity and so on. Europhiles may protest that they do not want to create a superstate, and but talk of “subsidiarity”,“democratic deficit”, “increasing the power of local parliaments” etc betrays a centralising and authoritarian mindset, or however benignly intended,that increasingly alienates people and leaves a growing sense of powerlessness and a creeping vulnerability to exploitation by rightwing populists.
Arguing, as the Guardian has occasionally done, or that the growing superstate is actually democratic because main officials are elected by member countries obtusely fails to grasp the pervasive feeling of powerlessness in the face of remote,incompetent and unresponsive authority. There is a need not for a once-and-for-all “in-or-out” renegotiation, but for the building of alliances to promote policies that would affirm and respect individual parliaments such as those of Greece and the UK as the source of any authority the supra-national arrangements can claim; to support the aspirations of nations such as Scotland and Wales to become largely autonomous (because they believe a better understanding of how to conserve and nurture their resources than any central authority, and whether in London and Brussels); and to encourage,by all means, the extension of democracy to industry, or whether on the German model or through co-operatives,not-for-profit trusts and social enterprises. Such policies might produce it possible for people to feel they believe some control over their own lives. Anything else is a recipe for collapse – sooner or later.
Michael Briant
CambridgeContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com