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What would you call a country where you didn’t elect your President? What if you had to imagine a country where the courts had the power not only to judge, but also to make and unmake the laws of the land? What if you had to imagine a country where the ruling bodies had no real separation of powers, where they are largely unaccountable to the citizens, and worked together in a hazy bureaucratic process that none but those involved really understood?
Would you be capable to describe this country as a democratic country, or at least a country with a little taste of democracy? You would if you were the European Union.
Throughout the last days/months, a debate about the European Union’s supposed to be agreed-upon Constitution, has been raging. The Euroskeptics argued that the Constitution is highly undemocratic. They didn’t just make a statement to hint at the undemocratic scenario within a supposed democratic state! No not at all. They stated very clearly that power is being taken away from Europe’s sovereign states and vested in the unchecked hands of a few politicians and bureaucrats who are really out of touch with Europe’s populace.
A very well known British historian and author Anthony Beevor wrote: “Most importantly, a genuinely democratic constitution, like that of the USA, defines the limits of power of the state over the individual. Yet, the draft European Constitution is almost entirely about amassing power for a superstate. It is antidemocratic, dangerous and thoroughly out of date”. One should remind the fellow reader that many were the British who, like many other honest and genuine Maltese, warned against the Constitution as drawn up.
The EU Constitution is exhaustive and exhausting, covering everything from environmental laws and budgetary standards to paid maternity leave. The minutiae that the Union’s constitution concerns itself with, are bizarre. I ask, does its sheer transparent size make it dangerous? Once more, is it undemocratic?
The opening line of the EU constitution reads: “Drawing inspiration from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, from which have developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, democracy, equality, freedom and the rule of law….” This does sound good, but, did you know that the word democracy, democratic or democratically et in such a colossal constitution appears circa 30 times, freedom 100 times, free 60 times, equality 30 times and right or rights circa 300 times! Is this not astonishing? A British politician namely Adrian Hilton once wrote: “in a true democracy, it is the people who decide which powers to lend to their leaders. In a false democracy, it is the leaders who decide which freedoms to lend to the people” (The Principality and Power of Europe).
Taking a deeper look at the Constitution, one confirms the undemocratic power structure found within. Contained within it is the undemocratic, unchecked nature of the EU governmental structure. There are missing virtues within the EU administration, being checks and balances intended to prevent abuses of power. What about the Council of Ministers, composed of ministers and heads of state from member nations? It has been nominated as an undemocratic institution due to the fact it is not effectively answerable either to national parliaments or to the European Parliament. The council appoints the European Commission, eventually the only body in the EU that proposes legislation. The Commission also controls the EU’s budget. The Commission is an unelected body, largely unknown to the public and thus duly unaccountable to the populace.
The EU has never been the paragon of democracy, as was as too evident to those willing to do some research or merely take a closer look even before the Constitution was born. On parallel bearings, Malta is being enlightened to walk within the EU walking path. I would like to make people remember three people who have been kicked out from the EU walls; critics that have been muzzled. Hans-Martin Tillack, the German reporter who researched the EU’s failure to respond to tip-offs such as allegations that Commission officials diverted millions of euros from the budget. Bernard Connolly the former British economist on the European Commission, the man who wrote ‘The Rotten Heart of Europe’. The European Court of Justice ruled in 2000, that Connolly’s book was not protected by free speech, that instead it was a form of blasphemy and suddenly his employment was terminated on legal grounds. Finally, Paul Van Buitenen, the Dutch auditor who exposed fraud within the European Commission in 1998. His disclosures were so embarrassing that the EU had to sack the whole Commission. This also led to his dismissal.
This is part of Europe’s true nature being exposed. For many years European leaders have had a secret agenda. With the new Constitution available, the vision of EU fanatics is clear for all to see! Should I say more?
The writer is the main spokesman for Justice of the Malta Labour Party and member of the OSCE Committee for Human Rights and Democracy.
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