Lisbon - Constitutional Law Ph.D. students view on it

yiddo_til_i_die

The EU is not yet a federal State. It may become one in the future, it may not become one in the future. They still take loads of decisions as to what we can and can't do in Ireland. They probably end up voting in things that I wish the Irish Government would do so purely from the point of view of results I should vote yes. On the other hand, there is basically no awareness of what is going on in the EU. Every couple of years they come along and say that there is a communication gap which needs to be bridged. The interests of the Council of Ministers and the Commission (and even the Parliament) lies in ensuring this gap continues. This is because it is easier to make decisions, particularly unpopular ones, if no one knows who actually made the decision. This is efficient.

The thing about democracy is that it's inefficient. And the thing about governance is that people should be able to have a say in unpopular decisions, even if it simply involves turfing out the people who made such a decision. There is no way the EU will EVER allow us to decide whether Turkey should or should not join the Union. This is arguably one of the biggest decisions the EU will take. EU citizens should be allowed to vote on it. It's even likely that Turkey should be allowed in. The point is simply that we should be allowed to have a say in it. They are never going to allow people to vote on abortion. People should be allowed a say on that. Barroso just got elected to a second term as President of the Commission. What are his policies? Why didn't we hear about them? Because we can't vote on them. Do we want a right or left wing President of the Commission? We don't even get to decide on this.

So, basically, we should have a greater say in the running of the EU. The structures are undemocratic. Most of the arguments about Lisbon are not on the Treaty itself. The Yes side gives out about the No side talking about things that are not in the Treaty but most of their argument is the economic one. This is also not in the Treaty. What is in the Treaty is the establishment of a new High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and a President of the EU. We get to vote for neither. The Initiative Procedure is good but it's too little. It probably won't survive ten years anyway, if you want democracy it's got to be built into the structure of governance. They're never going to give away power willingly; it just never happens.. So, you've got to keep telling them "No" until they sort it out,

marco_polo

yiddo_til_i_die wrote: »

The EU is not yet a federal State. It may become one in the future, it may not become one in the future. They still take loads of decisions as to what we can and can't do in Ireland. They probably end up voting in things that I wish the Irish Government would do so purely from the point of view of results I should vote yes. On the other hand, there is basically no awareness of what is going on in the EU. Every couple of years they come along and say that there is a communication gap which needs to be bridged. The interests of the Council of Ministers and the Commission (and even the Parliament) lies in ensuring this gap continues. This is because it is easier to make decisions, particularly unpopular ones, if no one knows who actually made the decision. This is efficient.

The thing about democracy is that it's inefficient. And the thing about governance is that people should be able to have a say in unpopular decisions, even if it simply involves turfing out the people who made such a decision. There is no way the EU will EVER allow us to decide whether Turkey should or should not join the Union. This is arguably one of the biggest decisions the EU will take. EU citizens should be allowed to vote on it. It's even likely that Turkey should be allowed in. The point is simply that we should be allowed to have a say in it. They are never going to allow people to vote on abortion. People should be allowed a say on that. Barroso just got elected to a second term as President of the Commission. What are his policies? Why didn't we hear about them? Because we can't vote on them. Do we want a right or left wing President of the Commission? We don't even get to decide on this.

So, basically, we should have a greater say in the running of the EU. The structures are undemocratic. Most of the arguments about Lisbon are not on the Treaty itself. The Yes side gives out about the No side talking about things that are not in the Treaty but most of their argument is the economic one. This is also not in the Treaty. What is in the Treaty is the establishment of a new High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and a President of the EU. We get to vote for neither. The Initiative Procedure is good but it's too little. It probably won't survive ten years anyway, if you want democracy it's got to be built into the structure of governance. They're never going to give away power willingly; it just never happens.. So, you've got to keep telling them "No" until they sort it out,

Who is the law student?

prinz

If that's the standard of PhD students Ireland is producing now, it's pretty piss-poor. Care to credit it to it's source OP?

A "President of the EU" ffs. Constitutional Law student my ****

Scofflaw

marco_polo wrote: »

Who is the law student?

The answer appears to be 'mangaroosh'.

moderately,
Scofflaw