Thursday 17 September 2009

Spectacular EU quotes

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Brussels Blogger picked up the PES leader Poul Rasmussen demanding top jobs for European socialists:


“(W)e insist on having the post of High Representative, or if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, the European Council President. We have several excellent candidates for these positions.”

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After the spectacular failure of the Party of European Socialists (PES) to put forward a candidate for the Commission Presidency ahead of the European Parliament elections in June 2009, we look forward to a presentation of these excellent candidates and an open selection of those the PES is going to propose to the European Council.

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Julien Frisch offers us the following paragraph about the newly approved José Manuel Barroso:

“After he got elected today, Barroso said that he wants to work more closely with the European Parliament to make the Union a "European parliamentary democracy".”

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Did Barroso really say that, and if he did, did he mean it?

I failed to find the quote in question, but would the anti-Europeans and Europhobics have voted for a Commission President with real democratic ambitions at the European level?

Logically, Barroso would part from his bland political programme and embark on a revolutionary course, leading to a Convention aiming at a European federation, built on its citizens – liberté, fraternité, egalite and all that.

We, the people, eagerly await the next steps (or clarifications).


Ralf Grahn

2 comments:

  1. If he did say it...
    great!

    In my view there is no reason the EU can't operate as a parliamentary democracy
    = that is without a Commission
    too...
    http://www.ceolas.net/#eu2x

    ...an unelected Commission that still retains sole rights to initiate legislation that it also oversees the execution of.

    The Commission is an enduring hangover from the days of a small, limited, European Coal and Steel Community, a common market for coal and steel set up between 6 countries, when the Commission was called the High Authority.

    But now we have 27 member nations in wide-ranging political and economic cooperation, and
    736 elected Members of Parliament
    that could do more than comment on legislation and share some approval functions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Panta Rei,

    In a parliamentary democracy there would be a politically accountable government instead, I think, and the structural democratic deficit would disappear.

    Sadly, I think that Barroso and the member states in general are not farsighted or mature enough to establish a federation with one foreign policy and other suitable powers.

    ReplyDelete

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