4 ms·

The EU is dominated by Germany and France. They decided to impose on the people of small Cyprus a haircut when it was in financial trouble, but when France is i

The EU is dominated by Germany and France. They decided to impose on the people of small Cyprus a haircut when it was in financial trouble, but when France is in financial troubles they simply change the rules. Or Germany got a free pass on the Maastricht treaties provision for GDP debt in the past, but other smaller countries were punished.

niftich 10y ago
But small countries tolerate this because in return they get access to Germany and France's large markets.
- DominikR 10y ago
  Why even have any treaties then when negative aspects never apply to the larger countries? Don't you see how this is inherently undemocratic if only the weak have to follow laws? That's just as if you decided to implement a new law whereby citizens with more than 1 million Euro on their bank accounts are above all law while the poor will be punished if they do the same thing.
- rmc 10y ago
  And money. Don't forget all that EU structural funds.
sveme 10y ago
The qualified majority mechanism actually means that the power of the large countries are less than their population numbers imply. Both France and Germany have also capped their numbers of MEPs so that smaller countries have a larger share. That's actually, in contrast to most of the other stuff you posted, undemocratic, but to the benefit of the smaller countries. PS: just to mention a few, as you seem to be German: is the Bundeskanzler directly elected? Is that undemocratic? Are the ministers elected? Is it undemocratic that Bavaria has more influence than Bremen via the Bundesrat? Is it undemocratic that Bremen has many more votes per population in the Bundesrat than Bayern? Is it undemocratic that both California and Alabama have the same number of senators?
- DominikR 10y ago
  Great, so there are some concession being made by Germany/France. But how is it relevant if they still are the only ones that can ignore laws and treaties while other smaller countries can't? Seems to me it doesn't even matter what is written in treaties. Merkel just says into a camera that everyone is welcome and then millions from the Middle East and Africa start to migrate into the EU. No questions asked, she can decide this for all of us without even consulting her own population, let alone the people of other EU members. And when countries like Hungary and Poland refuse to take them in based on the fact that the EU ignores its own laws to protect the borders and prevent illegal immigration what does the EU do? It discusses creating new ways to punish these countries for the inhumane act of wanting to uphold what is written in the EU treaties regarding border control. The EU laws are apparently quite flexible as long as you are Merkel or Hollande. Oh and of course the prime ministers of Hungary and Poland are now both like Hitler. Seems like everyone is like Hitler these days. Orban, Kaczynski, Trump, Putin - all of them are Hitler clones. That's a great way to prevent having any discussions about issues. > PS: just to mention a few, as you seem to be German No, I'm Austrian. But all of these examples seem undemocratic to me. I want more freedom and more democracy and there's a lot we can do to improve our own governments. Maybe we can take some cues from the US/Switzerland in this regard even though both are far from perfect. Let's start with freedom of speech which doesn't even exist here.

niftich 10y ago

But small countries tolerate this because in return they get access to Germany and France's large markets.

DominikR 10y ago
Why even have any treaties then when negative aspects never apply to the larger countries? Don't you see how this is inherently undemocratic if only the weak have to follow laws? That's just as if you decided to implement a new law whereby citizens with more than 1 million Euro on their bank accounts are above all law while the poor will be punished if they do the same thing.
rmc 10y ago
And money. Don't forget all that EU structural funds.

sveme 10y ago

The qualified majority mechanism actually means that the power of the large countries are less than their population numbers imply. Both France and Germany have also capped their numbers of MEPs so that smaller countries have a larger share. That's actually, in contrast to most of the other stuff you posted, undemocratic, but to the benefit of the smaller countries. PS: just to mention a few, as you seem to be German: is the Bundeskanzler directly elected? Is that undemocratic? Are the ministers elected? Is it undemocratic that Bavaria has more influence than Bremen via the Bundesrat? Is it undemocratic that Bremen has many more votes per population in the Bundesrat than Bayern? Is it undemocratic that both California and Alabama have the same number of senators?

DominikR 10y ago
Great, so there are some concession being made by Germany/France. But how is it relevant if they still are the only ones that can ignore laws and treaties while other smaller countries can't? Seems to me it doesn't even matter what is written in treaties. Merkel just says into a camera that everyone is welcome and then millions from the Middle East and Africa start to migrate into the EU. No questions asked, she can decide this for all of us without even consulting her own population, let alone the people of other EU members. And when countries like Hungary and Poland refuse to take them in based on the fact that the EU ignores its own laws to protect the borders and prevent illegal immigration what does the EU do? It discusses creating new ways to punish these countries for the inhumane act of wanting to uphold what is written in the EU treaties regarding border control. The EU laws are apparently quite flexible as long as you are Merkel or Hollande. Oh and of course the prime ministers of Hungary and Poland are now both like Hitler. Seems like everyone is like Hitler these days. Orban, Kaczynski, Trump, Putin - all of them are Hitler clones. That's a great way to prevent having any discussions about issues. > PS: just to mention a few, as you seem to be German No, I'm Austrian. But all of these examples seem undemocratic to me. I want more freedom and more democracy and there's a lot we can do to improve our own governments. Maybe we can take some cues from the US/Switzerland in this regard even though both are far from perfect. Let's start with freedom of speech which doesn't even exist here.