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European Parliament mostly works and has mostly curbed the EC's incompetence, ill-intent, overreach. The issue is the European Comission and the Council of Min

European Parliament mostly works and has mostly curbed the EC's incompetence, ill-intent, overreach. The issue is the European Comission and the Council of Ministers that appoints them. The EC seems to progressively be filled by increasingly incompetent and unqualified comissioners. But more worrying for me is their increasing affinity with lobbying. Many legal systems across the EU explicitly prohibit lobbying not sure why we even allow it in the EU.

adev_ 3y ago
Exactly. The main problem with the EU is that it is an entity with a construction aborted half-way. The EU parlement is a example of what the EU should be. The EU commission is not. The EU commission was literally intended as a temporary fix for the executive power on the road of a broader European federation. The federarion never happened. And is very unlikely to happen with the PPE (main European conservative party) and the extreme right dominating the political landscape.
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  European federalism is very popular in Brussels, much less so elsewhere. Regardless of the fact that their politicians once signed treaties proclaiming a vague "ever closer Union", the nations themselves don't want to integrate to the same level as the US did. Any federalization proposal that would be subject to referenda would be shot down in a supermajority of member countries. The current state of things, "aborted half-way", is a consequence of social engineering that failed to take into account the possibility that its preferred endgame may not be attractive and that in democracies, going behind the back of the voters can only get you so far. The integration of the EU basically stopped once it became impossible to hide preparation of new treaties and legislation from the voters by distracting people by something else in the media. This is also case of the legislation we are talking about now. Of course the authors of Chat Control 2.0 would prefer to agree to the entire thing in darkness, but the Internet makes it very hard to conceal the plan.
  - adev_ 3y ago
    > European federalism is very popular in Brussels, much less so elsewhere. Having more democratic EU institution is currently not related to federalism. You can currently even have fully democratic institutions in a confederation system with limited power. Switzerland was an example of that. > the current state of things, "aborted half-way", is a consequence of social engineering that failed to take into account That is the pretty common eurosceptic speech and fortunately does not match the reality. Most poll in Western Europe confirms an overwhelming majority of pro-EU position[^1]. It is currently even stronger in the younger generation. The integration of the EU stopped because there is a political interest to keep it in its current state. An half baked monster is much easier to corrupt and control through lobbying and diplomatic negotiation than a democratic institution. If you want to convince yourself of that, simply have a look on the last 2023 European Energy market reform. It is a shit show of hidden national interests not even half covered up. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/24/people-broadly-view-the-eu-favorably-both-in-member-states-and-elsewhere/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/24/people-br...

adev_ 3y ago

Exactly. The main problem with the EU is that it is an entity with a construction aborted half-way. The EU parlement is a example of what the EU should be. The EU commission is not. The EU commission was literally intended as a temporary fix for the executive power on the road of a broader European federation. The federarion never happened. And is very unlikely to happen with the PPE (main European conservative party) and the extreme right dominating the political landscape.

inglor_cz 3y ago
European federalism is very popular in Brussels, much less so elsewhere. Regardless of the fact that their politicians once signed treaties proclaiming a vague "ever closer Union", the nations themselves don't want to integrate to the same level as the US did. Any federalization proposal that would be subject to referenda would be shot down in a supermajority of member countries. The current state of things, "aborted half-way", is a consequence of social engineering that failed to take into account the possibility that its preferred endgame may not be attractive and that in democracies, going behind the back of the voters can only get you so far. The integration of the EU basically stopped once it became impossible to hide preparation of new treaties and legislation from the voters by distracting people by something else in the media. This is also case of the legislation we are talking about now. Of course the authors of Chat Control 2.0 would prefer to agree to the entire thing in darkness, but the Internet makes it very hard to conceal the plan.
- adev_ 3y ago
  > European federalism is very popular in Brussels, much less so elsewhere. Having more democratic EU institution is currently not related to federalism. You can currently even have fully democratic institutions in a confederation system with limited power. Switzerland was an example of that. > the current state of things, "aborted half-way", is a consequence of social engineering that failed to take into account That is the pretty common eurosceptic speech and fortunately does not match the reality. Most poll in Western Europe confirms an overwhelming majority of pro-EU position[^1]. It is currently even stronger in the younger generation. The integration of the EU stopped because there is a political interest to keep it in its current state. An half baked monster is much easier to corrupt and control through lobbying and diplomatic negotiation than a democratic institution. If you want to convince yourself of that, simply have a look on the last 2023 European Energy market reform. It is a shit show of hidden national interests not even half covered up. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/24/people-broadly-view-the-eu-favorably-both-in-member-states-and-elsewhere/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/24/people-br...