At the end of 2021, a new government was formed in Germany. The coalition partners from the SPD, FDP and the Greens presented an agreement, which explicitly ...
Interesting. While I’m equally appalled by the Spitzenkandidaten principle not having been upheld, stating that the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen was decided by the German government would be a massive simplification of an insanely long, complicated, and weird debate among different European political actors. Particularly, the resistance to the lead candidates (Weber, Timmermans), came mainly from the French government (see here).
I do agree with the problem analysis that some democratic features are underdeveloped though. But I’d argue that that’s exactly why a federalisation is so necessary: Through shifting power away from the intergovernmental institutions (European Council, Council of the European Union) towards the democratically elected and accountable institutions (most notably the European Parliament), we can ensure that no single government can exercise too much power in the political decision-making process.
The exact same goes for the conditions in Southern/Eastern/Southeastern Europe (which I’d be willing to say have not ONLY worsened over the last decades, as your comment kind of implies). A completion of the banking and monetary union, establishment of a common fiscal union and most importantly, advancing the social rights of EU citizens are crucial in addressing the imbalance of conditions that you describe. Maintaining the status quo or introducing even more borders and differences between the different European states on the other hand does absolutely nothing to alleviate this and only adds to imbalances in economic and political power.
Interesting. While I’m equally appalled by the Spitzenkandidaten principle not having been upheld, stating that the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen was decided by the German government would be a massive simplification of an insanely long, complicated, and weird debate among different European political actors. Particularly, the resistance to the lead candidates (Weber, Timmermans), came mainly from the French government (see here).
I do agree with the problem analysis that some democratic features are underdeveloped though. But I’d argue that that’s exactly why a federalisation is so necessary: Through shifting power away from the intergovernmental institutions (European Council, Council of the European Union) towards the democratically elected and accountable institutions (most notably the European Parliament), we can ensure that no single government can exercise too much power in the political decision-making process.
The exact same goes for the conditions in Southern/Eastern/Southeastern Europe (which I’d be willing to say have not ONLY worsened over the last decades, as your comment kind of implies). A completion of the banking and monetary union, establishment of a common fiscal union and most importantly, advancing the social rights of EU citizens are crucial in addressing the imbalance of conditions that you describe. Maintaining the status quo or introducing even more borders and differences between the different European states on the other hand does absolutely nothing to alleviate this and only adds to imbalances in economic and political power.