Thread by @James7Holland

Quick thread - The final paragraph of this BBC piece on last night’s EU election debates shows how misunderstood power plays in Brussels are, even by senior journalists.

bbc.com/news/world-eur…

The paragraph in question:

“The days after the European elections will see a race for control of the process that will pit the European political parties against EU leaders, who will discuss the issue at a special summit on 28 May.”

This makes it seem like Parliament and Council are at odds with each other. It’s often repeated and creates impression of competition and a balance of powers within EU. The same if often said about the conflict between Parliament and Commission, or Council and Commission.

There is some truth to this, BUT..this ignores something crucial to forming a more profound understanding of the EU.

This picture masks the fact that a pro-EU coalition of socialists, liberals and Christian democrats have ruled the EU ever since it was created in the 1950s.

These 3 EU political ‘parties’ have dominated the EU Council, Commission and Parliament ever since EU was created.

They have been the prevailing force behind every expansion of EU power - for better and worse.

They determine the EU agenda, and dominate the lawmaking procedures.

And yet nobody loses their job..

Develop a flawed currency that impoverishes millions..nobody is held responsible, because everyone was in charge.

Fail to secure the EU’s borders, leading to the deaths of thousands in the Mediterranean, and again, nobody faces tough hearings.

They are protected from real scrutiny because they sit in all seats of EU power.

The EPP, the S&D and ALDE all have members in the EU Commission, and form an important block in the Parliament and the Council.

This unofficial coalition kills real democratic accountability.

To make my point more clearly..

imagine a British govt made up of a coalition of Tory, Labour and Lib Dem ministers, answerable to a parliament dominated by the same three parties.

Democracy needs veritable opposition, otherwise bad laws and bad politicians aren’t weeded out.

Returning to the paragraph that pushed me to post this thread:

“The days after the European elections will see a race for control of the process that will pit the European political parties against EU leaders, who will discuss the issue at a special summit on 28 May.”

The part that riled me and that I feel falsely portrays EU institutions - by design or by ignorance - as more in conflict with each other than they really are was this:

“the process that will pit the European political parties against EU leaders”

The truth is that EU political parties and EU leaders are the same people.

The parties who rule national governments sit in the Council, select EU commissioners and have large delegations in the EU Parliament.

Take Germany as a powerful example:

Merkel’s CDU is the most powerful force in the Council..it has the most MEPs in Parliament..it supported Juncker’s presidency (he’s from her EPP EU party)..it appointed the German EU commissioner and the controversial Commission sec gen, Martin Selmayr, is also from her party.

This lack of democratic scrutiny and accountability would be worrying at any level.

But we are witnessing it here at a new supernational level, where politicians and parties that have global, militarised ambitions, are held to account primarily by friends and colleagues.

The grand coalition that dominates EU politics sits so comfortably at the top tables. The system has made them arrogant.

They disregard the screams of anger from the people as the ravings of the uninformed, while they sip their fine wines..

It can’t go on like this.