Is the EU going to dissolve to a simple free trade area?

[Solly]

"UKIP only got where it did because ??? MASS MEDIA !!"

The media does not force people to vote one way or other. If it did, the BNP would get zero votes.

"This idea that if a politician says what you don't like to hear that somehow he's forcing you to agree with him is crazy !! you still have the choice to accept and reject."

Exactly. Ditto with the media, right?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Dauphin
I wouldn't call them technocrats, they're bureaucrats. The difference being that a technocrat implies a sense of technical or scientific expertise.

There are both technocrats and bureaucrats in the EU. The Commission is extremely important in the European decision process (pretty much every decision is devised by the commission), because they are held as the technical experts. And most often, the commission does indeed produce quality technical projects. Unfortunately, these projects are often far from the reality on ground, and they also hide important political questions in technical jibberish.

BTW, it is a common strategy with tricky political questions. In order to get a consensus on a tricky political question that would otherwise not been obtained, the Council decides to dismiss the question as a technical one, and it will be answered in the great fashion of consensus that is the EU's political culture. This doesn't work for the most spectacular political questions of course, it is all about dicretion.

[Solly]

"it will be answered in the great fashion of consensus that is the EU's political culture"

Says who?

Consensus is a very shabby from of democracy.

[Spiffor]

Yes it is.

It is the current state of affairs however. The EU is all about buiding consensus wherever possible. And you can thank people of your ilk for that.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

too much bureacracy.

[alva]

Consensus is a very shabby from of democracy.

Isn't that what democracy is all about???
IE making a decision that is good for - albeit it not perfect - for everyone, instead of being very good for only a few.

[Bereta_Eder]

Romania has fallen far behind...
Bulgaria will probably get in in 2007.

[Solly]

"Isn't that what democracy is all about??? "

Fudging an agreement that no-one really likes anyway?

[alva]

It's all about compromise IMO.

[Solly]

But you have to understand that if your country doesn't have this "consensus" thing going on, being involved in the EU where it apparently does, the change in slant makes it seems as if we are being asked/forced to give things up we really don't want to.The EU gets more from the UK than we get from it. It gets an economically coherent philosophy rather than French market-ignorance, and a boot in the right direction.