Re: brin: war

[HE Uthacalthing]

Concerning the EU and federalism, there is actually an argument that has immediate relevance to what has been discussed here.
In brief, the point is that power and responsibility should go hand in hand. The idea of strengthening the European Union is precisely aimed at improving both (1) accountability and (2) efficiency.

Foreign policy decisions, at the moment, require unanimity. This means that all EU countries must agree in order to take significant collective action. In other words, as far as foreign policy is concerned, the EU does not really exist, but it is simply an administrative umbrella (little more than a collective name tag) under which politicians can conveniently hide their faces from the voting public.

As several commentators have said already, when a European politician has to take an unpopular decision that may compromise his chances of reelection, he only has to take on the magic hat of the EU, and the public instantly begins blaming somebody else. This is a politician's dream come true (so it is not surprising that the "Eurosceptic" camp keeps on growing), and it obviously does not encourage responsible behaviour.

Those same politicians, of course, would say that they are defending the "national interests". In fact, those interests are often convenient excuses for taking no decisions at all, and for relying on US intervention. The irony of it all is, that there is no logical argument whereby German national interests, say, should be as a rule more foreign to French interests than American national interests. It is often a question of avoiding responsibility and difficult decisions.

European Monetary Union was launched with these considerations in mind. A currency area without a foreign policy, though, is a strange creature indeed. Historically, the purse and the sword tend to go together. Who will make EU policy and take responsibility for it? Unelected bankers in Frankfurt? Fifteen diplomats meeting in secret? A "high representative" of some alchemic assembly? The White House?

The application of democratic principles to supernational institutions is in its infancy, but nobody knows of a better method to achieve both efficiency and accountability simultaneously. So the federalist model is at least aesthetically appealing.

Carlo

_________________________________________________________________
�����������ѽ��н�������ʹ�� MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com/lccn/
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l