What I don't want to see is major policy decisions coming from unelected (or very indirectly elected) parts of the EU. Just that. Because National Laws are shining examples of rational and just policies and EU Directives are blockheaded. Right
Because National Laws are shining examples of rational and just policies and EU Directives are blockheaded. Right
My argument for democracy is not pragmatic but principled.
I am Portuguese, most of what can be called civilization in my country is normally the imposition of an EU directive (this is an exaggeration, but you get the point).
I am fully aware of the shortcomings of democracy. I normally am against the common/majority sense in my original country. But in the overall I cannot think of a better system (a topic for another discussion...).
The labour movement has been another powerful non-elite engine of progress.
Both seem to have fizzled out of late and a synthesis and revival would be a very good thing.
But the point is that a technocratic elite might be a good thing in a democratic arrangement.
In France, however, as I gather from Jerome's complaints, the technocratic elite has lost its public service ethos and been coopted into predatorial capitalism which is not a good thing. And as the EU Commission looks a lot like the French civil service, one should expect a similar shift there. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
