4 ms·

Well, we actually vote for the EU parliament every 5 (?) years here in Germany. Where are you from that you didn't have to option to vote?

geysersam 4y ago
I vote. I just think the distance between us voters and the people who end up in the EU "government" is too big. Democracy gets diluted when the electorate becomes too large and too diverse. It's important that decisions stay as local as possible.
- anonyfox 4y ago
  sometimes, a decision _could_ be made local, but an _even better_ ooutcome could be achieven going a bit higher level. Like, image some county that needs energy, has no natural gifts regarding that but has land to farm upon. Instead of exporting food and importing coal from somewhere to fire up a new plant, it could also exchange energy with a more gifted county that has plenty of green energy but doesn't need something from them. To make this work, a higher level entity can force the exchange, and ensure that the whole area doesn't suffer from pollution despite that being the cheapest or even only possible way for the individual county. It COULD be solved there, but everyone is worse off by not cooperating. Actually, the EU has a huge power potential if only the member states would finally cut back on individual national interests so that mutual agreements and shared legislation/taxes/military/... could be setup properly - which might worse some situations in the short term, but ensures greater wealth for everyone longterm. The "I I I" egoistic thinking of individual member states is the greatest weakness the EU has - unified we can achieve so much more!
  - geysersam 4y ago
    Sure I'm all for standardization and cooperation. But this is not that. What parlament in Europe would pass this legislation if it was a motion in the national parlament? (Assume for a second it would be feasible even for smaller countries to pass legislation that international tech giants has to comply with.)

geysersam 4y ago

I vote. I just think the distance between us voters and the people who end up in the EU "government" is too big. Democracy gets diluted when the electorate becomes too large and too diverse. It's important that decisions stay as local as possible.

anonyfox 4y ago
sometimes, a decision _could_ be made local, but an _even better_ ooutcome could be achieven going a bit higher level. Like, image some county that needs energy, has no natural gifts regarding that but has land to farm upon. Instead of exporting food and importing coal from somewhere to fire up a new plant, it could also exchange energy with a more gifted county that has plenty of green energy but doesn't need something from them. To make this work, a higher level entity can force the exchange, and ensure that the whole area doesn't suffer from pollution despite that being the cheapest or even only possible way for the individual county. It COULD be solved there, but everyone is worse off by not cooperating. Actually, the EU has a huge power potential if only the member states would finally cut back on individual national interests so that mutual agreements and shared legislation/taxes/military/... could be setup properly - which might worse some situations in the short term, but ensures greater wealth for everyone longterm. The "I I I" egoistic thinking of individual member states is the greatest weakness the EU has - unified we can achieve so much more!
- geysersam 4y ago
  Sure I'm all for standardization and cooperation. But this is not that. What parlament in Europe would pass this legislation if it was a motion in the national parlament? (Assume for a second it would be feasible even for smaller countries to pass legislation that international tech giants has to comply with.)