Vaclav Havel European Dialogues Conference

I am thinking of attending the Vaclav Havel European Dialogues Conference next month. Politics is something I am still interested in by rarely get a chance to participate in now I am out of the UK.  In response to considering my attendance I quickly typed the following. Don't worry, I don't intend for this blog to be too political any more.

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A short comment on the distance between politicos and the populace with regards to Europe.

There is a distance between those people who talk and know about politics (let alone politicians) and the people. This distance is exemplified by the discussions that are conducted over Europe. Within Europe you hear how the people are crying out for more Europe, more regulation, more integration, but in reality, the real words of the people are nothing of the sort.

When elections happen they reflect the mood of the country. Often this mood results in political parties and groups who have a positive view regarding politics. But in truth the public are not voting for this. They are voting for their respective social democratic party for improved living standards. Or they are voting for a right of centre party to take care of an ailing democracy. Or as a final example, they are voting socially conservative to preserve their way of life. They express themselves on a National or local level on national and local issues.

It is my position that the mandate allowed to politicians is too wide once they are elected. We vote for large parties with a range of issues and some things get through that the people wouldn't have supported in a million years; manifestos are created for PR not policy. Europe is so frequently one of these issues. When the various peoples of the EU voted for the Lisbon Treaty they overwhelmingly rejected it. That was a momentous occasion. It was in itself the first time for many they had had a direct comment on the European project. Ever. And they said no.

The aim of this was to comment and not answer a question so I am not going to go any further other than to say that a narrowing of the power of politicians can only strengthen our democracy and the freedom.

Long live the Queen... Until The Lisbon Treaty

I'm not going to look into this in detail... But here is a Libertarian Party blog which comments on the prospect of us losing our monarch with the Lisbon Treaty.

Interesting, if only it is a hypothetical result of that most disagreeable advancement of Europe.

Cameron Direct

Within the constituency of Harlow it seems David Cameron has jumped off the fence on the Lisbon treaty/constitution and has said, directly to a question, that the conservatives would give the country what it wants in the form of a referendum.

Nice one!

I hope it is true.

Watch the vid, its actually quite good.

Europe has won...

After seeing this post on the Devil's Kitchen I have to lament what seems to becoming a truism for most students of the day. Europe has won, not through argument or any tangible benefit for the various nations but through the conceptual reality that it is the exciting new project that brings peace, love and bunny rabbits to all of its peoples.

Watch this vid and you will understand I think.

Lipdub Europe United par les Jeunes Européens - France
by JeunesEuropeensFrance

This chimes a chord with my experience of those that have been given a glimpse of the European project in my life. It is basic brainwashing of the most positive kind. Politics students in Lancaster University were given a chance to go and see the project face to face, discuss its pros and cons and come to their own conclusions of whether Europe is a good things or not. I didn't go, but a friend of mine did and in reality what he came across was a summer camp which touched on none of the real issues facing Europe and its constituent member states. Instead the discussion was on the large issue, the fun issues, the conceptual immaterial idealist prospects of what a perfect Europe would be like.

And this is the point. From what little I know (admittedly) those that seem to be whole heartedly won over by Europe are done so first on these idealist grounds of a peaceful perfectly formed federalist state - much in the same way the leftists are won over by their flawed drives towards equality. Just in the same way that the left held the minds of the youth in the second half of the 20th century it is the European project which will be the extravagance of our leaders of tomorrow. And though it will be a flawed understanding, and though it is something which many will grow out of in later life what this does mean is that Europe has in this sense become us. Is now an accepted reality of the British state's existence and not something which we join and continually renew our commitment to, but in the only sense that is real, it is now an institution within 'our' minds.