Comments on: Yet more future of Europe futility

By: European Union at a Crossroads | Entangled Alliances

European Union at a Crossroads | Entangled Alliances — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:33:02 +0000

[...] Is the EU actually in a crisis? Nosemonkey reacting to a fellow blogger’s conversion to Euroscepticism had this to say: I know how he feels. [...]

By: Marcin

Marcin — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 21:23:00 +0000

I maintain that about the only chance of having a proper idea of where the EU is going, or any kind of leadership on its problems is to eliminate the Council as a legislative organ at all, and move to a bicameral legislature which has to consult the Commission. It would need to be reformed – probably smaller consituencies, and the abolition of the party list. Then, it would have a chance of being taken seriously by the electorate, who might then force members to stop spending all their time lining their pockets, and properly developing some kind of European political discourse, even if that mainly means not doing anything.

By: Devil's Kitchen

Devil's Kitchen — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:52:00 +0000

the chance of anything genuinely constructive happening at this summit is somewhat akin to my chances being appointed editor of the Daily Mail.

Actually — given that you are in, at least, the right profession, i.e. journalism — the chance of anything constructive happening is considerably lower than your being appointed editor of the Daily Mail.

I would say that the chance is rather closer to that of me being appointed editor of The Guardian…

By: BondWoman

BondWoman — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 15:58:00 +0000

Well….she said drawing in breath, your distinction between the Council (of Ministers, I prefer to call it, and that is what the Constitutional Treaty calls it) is broadly correct, but I would tweak it slightly. The Council is a legal institution of the Union. The European Council is not. It only has legislative power when it is the Council, sitting in the formation of the Heads of State and Government. It's not just a pedantic point, though. Arguably a lot of what is important and sometimes difficult about the EU stems from the European Council effectively usurping the political leadership, if not the legal responsibilities, of other institutions.

By: Guillaume

Guillaume — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:36:00 +0000

The little note makes it really clear!

Know what the citizens expect from Europe was precisely the aim of the Newropeans Democracy Marathon (100 conferences in 100 towns in 25 countries). And now Newropeans ( newropeans.eu ) has been founded to propose new ideas to democratise the EU : a trans-national political movement without national level building a programm for 2009.