--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Jan 2, 2008, at 3:33 AM, dredmond at efn.org wrote:
>
> > The EU isn't a country. It's the world's first --
> but hardly last --
> > multinational democracy.
>
> What democratic control is there over the Eurocrats
> in Brussels? What
> real power does the European Parliament have? What
> share of the
> European pop thinks of itself as European before
> they think of
> themselves as French or Polish?
[WS:] I am not sure if this is real or a rhetorical question, but assuming that it is real, here are some examples:
1. The right of states to enter or leave the union - EU has it, US has defeated that right by military force in 1865.
2. An effective mechanism of recalling unpopular governments - EU does have it through a parliamentary system and no-confidence vote, US does not.
3. Political representation of minority interests - EU has it (it is called parliamentary democracy or proportional representation), the US does not. In fact the entire US population (300+ million people) is "represented" by two political parties, whereas the number of political parties representing the 500+ million strong EU population is in double digits.
4. Political representation of labor interests - EU has it, the US does not.
However, the US and its states have the right to kill their citizens in the name of justice, whereas EU governments do not. Also US has a far greater share of its population imprisoned - which means also revocation of their voting and civil rights - than any other nation on Earth, let alsone EU countries.
EU may not be a perfect political organization, but it stands second to none in guranteeing its citizens a wide range of civil and political rights and powers. The US does not even come close.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Wojtek
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