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Open Thread 1-7 June | 175 comments (175 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
We should be looking at the (none / 0)
real-existing EU, and not the one we idealise and which a certain generation of french elites dreamed up.

And, that real-existing EU has not been a force for good, for longer than since 2008.

And the fate of the world is indeed currently being decided in Washington and Beijing, and that might be a good thing, as I'm not sure having François Hollande and Angela Merkel have much of a say is a good idea.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 05:52:52 AM EST
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Re: We should be looking at the (4.00 / 6)
It started going downhill right after Maastricht, with the ill-fated (and uninspiring) Santer Commission. The Prodi Commission was a respite of sorts, but 10 years of Barroso just about killed it. And Barroso was reappointed in 2009, just so there wouldn't be a Commission counterweight to German "leadership" on crisis management.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 06:08:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: We should be looking at the (4.00 / 4)
redstar:
the fate of the world is indeed currently being decided in Washington and Beijing, and that might be a good thing

Irrespective of how bad the EU is, the world under Washington and Beijing is increasingly free-trade authoritarian liberal, and that might not be a good thing at all.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 06:35:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Personally, I'll take free trade (none / 0)
liberal over german authoritarian conservatism à la wolfgang shauble any day of the week.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 06:37:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Personally, I'll take free trade (4.00 / 3)
How much difference is there? What the free-trade agreements currently imposed by the Washington-sponsored corporate world will lead us to is an authoritarian pro-business set-up. In fact the EU, weakened by individual member-state contention and infiltrated by lobbies, is falling apart to be simply replaced by that set-up.  
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 06:46:38 AM EST
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I think the EU is weakened (none / 0)
by more than member-state contention and the inevitable lobbies which set up wherever power centres are created.

EU weakness is at its core, starting with the Euro construction, and given that construction, continuing on through the German conservatism which is dominating the aftermath.

And that conservatism is far less dynamic, allows for far less social mobility, than the alternatives.

It is, in a word, conservative.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 06:52:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: I think the EU is weakened (4.00 / 4)
Agreed, it's not just member-state contention and lobbies, and the euro is a millstone round the EU's neck. But I'm not expecting much in the way of social mobility (unless that means a handful of lucky duckies who make it to the 1%) from the broader global free-trade agreements that are being undemocratically "negotiated".
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 07:02:49 AM EST
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Re: Personally, I'll take free trade (none / 0)
Schäuble, the TTIP enemy. Now I have seen anything.
by IM on Wed Jun 3rd, 2015 at 07:25:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Open Thread 1-7 June | 175 comments (175 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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