tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post2539743304027815307..comments2024-02-25T10:22:38.186+00:00Comments on The European Citizen: Europe doesn't need a Pro-European Alliance in the EPEurocentrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09439536905456080079noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post-81992249532273532009-07-19T19:48:21.595+01:002009-07-19T19:48:21.595+01:00I accept that Verhofstadt's vision of European...I accept that Verhofstadt's vision of Europeanism is a much stronger and clearer one than that of the parties in general. Still, this is a constitutional vision, within which politics takes/would take place, not a vision that informs us much on policy content.<br /><br />There's nothing wrong with a coalition for constitutional issues, but I stand by my argument that mature parliamentary political conflicit on practical issues have a greater chance of Europeanizing debate and bringing the EU closer to citizens (and aiding pro-Europeanism's cause) than some sort of "national wartime coalition"-type alliance of the main parties.<br /><br />You're right that the ECR have burnt their political bridges and made themselves more politically isolated than the many political factors affecting them would make them out to be. But this political constellation could boost their image as the "opposition" and (wrongly) help them portray their original claims as valid. The best way of combating the ECR from "pro-Europeanism's" point of view is to show the ECR as being self-isolating, and as not partisipating in the interests of the constituents it represents - and for a vague, impractical, political point.<br /><br />The EP needs to be seen as an arena for political debate and decision making that matters to citizens - and that they shouldn't waste their vote on insignificant grandstanders such as the ECR.<br /><br />Real parliamentary democracy should be a goal now, and I see it as a means of making the EU work better and of bringing the EU closer to citizens. You have called for more openness and transparency and for a more responsive EU - this requires more "normal politics". Ideas, ideologies and visions need to match up with policies, and the politics of Europe must be more transparent and accessable to citizens - and political contest does this. It gives the media something to report on, political clashes explain positions and policy, personalities become more focal and identifiable.<br /><br />Now, even in those conditions a grand coalition could arise anyway. And stability in the EP is good, and there's nothing wrong with grand coalitions. But we must recognise that few people are interested or identify with constitutional issues, and the policies and politics of the everyday world must be the basis of politics at the European level (though relevant to the EU's competences, of course).Eurocentrichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09439536905456080079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post-14939092632165498482009-07-15T06:43:30.506+01:002009-07-15T06:43:30.506+01:00Eurocentric,
When you say that pro-Europeanism e...Eurocentric, <br /><br />When you say that pro-Europeanism either amounts to the constitutional status quo, or a vague degree of increased integration, it may be correct for parts of the mainstream groups, but hardly for Guy Verhofstadt, the author of The United States of Europe. <br /><br />I believe that the basic views on how the European Union should develop and the choices concerning EP reports are closer than your blog post seems to suggest. <br /><br />The Conservatives and (hm) Reformists have slammed the door in the face of the mainstream groups, so there is little in the way of constructive engagement there. <br /><br />They have more in common with the nationalist and rejectionist left (not much different from the Gaullists and the Communists of the 1950s). <br /><br />One or more grand coalitions are necessary in the European Parliament, if it wants to amend legislative proposals. Better a stable one than shifting sands under current rules, I suppose, although I see a real parliamentary democracy as the long term goal.Ralf Grahn https://www.blogger.com/profile/02156293782163802007noreply@blogger.com