Just as in those far off days before the French Revolution, the one thing we can be sure about with the EU is that it isn't about representative democracy. As Janet Daly points out in this article, in Europe we don't trust the proles to get the answer right.
It may sound apocalyptic, but I do believe that the democratic experiment in continental Europe, begun just over 200 years or so ago, is coming to a close. The European Union is creating what it hopes will be a benign oligarchy. Real political power will reside once again within elite circles (as it does already in France) which will conduct their business in the corridors rather than in the assemblies.
I also believe the title above would make a decent if un-nuanced paraphrasing of the Chirac interviews with the BBC (see below) and elsewhere. Just as in those far off days before the French Revolution, the one thing we can be sure about with the EU is that it isn't about democracy. In fact the EU Referendum blog does its usual excellent job of summarising the Foreign Policy views of M. Le Président de la Republique Française:
President Chirac has sorrowfully announced that Saddam Hussein’s great victory was that he managed to drive a wedge between the various European countries. An interesting way of interpreting irreconcilable differences in outlook and an odd way of referring to Saddam’s preferred method of ensuring support for his regime through the food-for-oil funds. (Or, perhaps, that was not quite what President Chirac meant.)
Once again we heard the call for a “multipolar world”, whatever that may mean, where Europe is as strong as America. Two questions: what is that strong Europe intending to achieve and how is it going to be as strong as America without either spending money on its armed forces or ensuring that its economy functions reasonably well? To these, no doubt, President Chirac would answer that we need to build up the structures of a strong state, even if we do not have the reality and agree on a “European”, that is, French foreign policy.
Of course as Tim Worstall reminded us today, the EU is good at grand gestures but not quite so hot at the menial tasks of actually balancing its budget or detecting fraud.
The European Union's financial watchdog refused to sign off the Brussels budget yesterday for the tenth year in a row, finding that 93.4 per cent of spending was either unsafe or riddled with errors.It rebuked Brussels in its annual report for failing to "satisfy the legitimate expectations of the citizens of the union".Spot checks found fraud or error – leading to demands for repayment – in 25 per cent of farm aid in Italy, 23 per cent in Greece, 21 per cent in Spain and 14 per cent in France, but most abuses remain undiscovered. But he said commission insiders set a dreadful tone by behaving like "rats in a bag seeking to evade responsibility".
Quelle Surprise! The EU always seems to think that words speak louder than actions whihc no doubt explains why it doesn't take any actions - except against individuals who can't fight back or who question the idea that sucking at the public teat and p [Hat-tip: Both Tim and Richard at the EU Referendum blog linked to the Janet Daly article referred to above and I agree it is an absolute must read .]