{"id":619,"date":"2012-12-06T11:07:48","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T11:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rulesofreason.wordpress.com\/?p=619"},"modified":"2012-12-06T11:07:48","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T11:07:48","slug":"the-european-commission-vs-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-design.dimiter.eu\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"The European Commission vs. the People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: re-post from the sister-blog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The Commission has recently published<\/a> its vision about the future of European integration. The report is more than ambitious calling for full banking, economic, budgetary and political integration, including \u2018dedicated fiscal capacity for the euro area\u2019 which I believe<\/a> means taxation powers for the EU. Here is the assessment of the Commission about the present state of EU\u2019s legitimacy:<\/p>\n

The Lisbon Treaty has perfected the EU\u2019s unique model of\u00a0supranational democracy, and in principle set an appropriate level of democratic legitimacy\u00a0in regard of today\u2019s EU competences. ..it would be inaccurate to suggest that insurmountable accountability\u00a0problems exist. (p.35)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow, wait a minute! P e r f e c t e d \u00a0 \u00a0the model of supranational democracy?! Appropriate level of democratic legitimacy?! Are the Commissioners living on the same planet as the rest of us? According to data<\/a> from autumn 2012, fewer than 1 in 3 Europeans\u00a0said they\u00a0trust the EU. 60% don\u2019t trust the EU.\u00a0<\/strong>For only 31% of European citizens the EU \u2018conjures\u2019 [sic] a positive image, while for 28% it \u2018conjures\u2019 a negative one. In late 2011 only 45% of European expressed<\/a> satisfaction with the way democracy works in the EU. 43% were not satisfied<\/strong> with the \u2018perfected model of supranational democracy\u2019.<\/p>\n

And what about the impact of the Lisbon Treaty? Here is a graph of the trust Europeans have in the different EU institutions. By the way, the Commission currently stands at 36% (click to enlarge the graph).<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

The trend is quite clear from a bird\u2019s eye-view, but let\u2019s zoom in on the period after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force:<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

Trust in EU institutions has decreased by more than 20%<\/strong> (from its 2009 levels) so that currently even the directly-elected European Parliament doesn\u2019t get the trust of more than half of the European population. The Lisbon Treaty has perfected things indeed.<\/p>\n

Finally, let\u2019s look more specifically at what people think about EU\u2019s expansion into some of the policies mentioned in the report.\u00a0An absolute majority of Europeans consider that it is only for the national governments to make decisions<\/strong> about public debt (51%), unemployment (58%), social welfare (68%), taxation (68%) and pensions (73%).<\/p>\n

If these are not \u2018\u00a0insurmountable accountability\u00a0problems\u2019, I don\u2019t know what is. For all its ambition, the Commission offers few answers how the reforms will be pushed through in the face of such strong opposition from the people. There is no way to proceed behind the backs of the citizens, and there is no magic trick to earn their trust overnight. The Commission might be\u00a0applauded for expressing a bold vision for future Europe, but some reality check is in order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: re-post from the sister-blog The Commission has recently published its vision about the future of European integration. The report is more than ambitious calling for full banking, economic, budgetary and political integration, including \u2018dedicated fiscal capacity for the euro area\u2019 which I believe means taxation powers for the EU. Here is the assessment of the Commission about the present state of EU\u2019s legitimacy: The Lisbon Treaty has perfected the EU\u2019s unique model of\u00a0supranational democracy, and in principle set an appropriate level of democratic legitimacy\u00a0in regard of today\u2019s EU competences. ..it would be inaccurate to suggest that insurmountable accountability\u00a0problems exist. (p.35) Wow, wait a minute! P e r f e c t e d \u00a0 \u00a0the model of supranational democracy?! Appropriate level of democratic legitimacy?! Are the Commissioners living on the same planet as the rest of us? According to data from autumn 2012, fewer than 1 in 3 Europeans\u00a0said they\u00a0trust the EU. 60% don\u2019t trust the EU.\u00a0For only 31% of European citizens the EU \u2018conjures\u2019 [sic] a positive image, while for 28% it \u2018conjures\u2019 a negative one. In late 2011 only 45% of European expressed satisfaction with the way democracy works in the EU. 43% were not satisfied with the \u2018perfected model of supranational democracy\u2019. And what about the impact of the Lisbon Treaty? Here is a graph of the trust Europeans have in the different EU institutions. By the way, the Commission currently stands at 36% (click to enlarge the graph). The trend is quite clear from a…<\/p>\n

Continue readingThe European Commission vs. the People<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[16,38],"tags":[96,175,225,243,251,285,387,533],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g3hj-9Z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":837,"url":"http:\/\/re-design.dimiter.eu\/?p=837","url_meta":{"origin":619,"position":0},"title":"Immigration from Central and Eastern Europe fuels support for Eurosceptic parties in the UK","date":"May 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Combining political, demographic and economic data for the local level in the UK, we find that the presence of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is related to higher voting shares cast for parties with Eurosceptic positions at the 2014 elections for the European Parliament. Evidence across Europe supports\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EU governance"","img":{"alt_text":"Data source: Standard Eurobarometer (59 to 82).","src":"http:\/\/eurosearch.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/05\/figure-1-importance-of-immigration.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":602,"url":"http:\/\/re-design.dimiter.eu\/?p=602","url_meta":{"origin":619,"position":1},"title":"Why EU Commissioners Are Poor Politicians","date":"November 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Note: a highly-opinionated \u00a0piece re-posted from the EU blog I contribute to EU Commissioners might be seasoned bureaucrats but make for lousy politicians. 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