Concrete Achievements

Tag: European Parliament

  • Democratic backsliders don’t talk about it

    Reading: How backsliding government parties defend democratic backsliding in the European Parliament, Thomas Winzen (https://doi.org/10.1177/14651165261463883.

    (Note: these are my thoughts and comments, not the paper author’s words)

    Parties in the European Parliament that support backsliding on democracy – those who don’t support democracy, in other words – don’t talk about it. In fact, they rarely refer to their own illiberalism. They point at others, they complain about unfair treatment, and they don’t even mention their own illiberalism.

    There are two risks. The first is that the illiberal parties drive a ‘plague on both your houses’ nihilism, that helps them and discourages citizens from taking action to defend liberal values. The second is that if parties are staying quiet about their own illiberal plans, politics within the EU may not allow for sanctions aimed at supporting the rule of law (as applied to Hungary) – or if they are applied, they will arrive too late or not at all.

    The flip side is that the parties themselves seem to realise that an outright claim of illberalism (as in Orbán’s illiberal democracy) is a bad strategy for them – though the author points out this may be more about maximising their chances

    What can citizens do? Watch for what these parties do not what they say; stay aware of how illiberal actions can be cloaked under accusations

    How should we change the state? A clear and independent protection mechanism for rights and the rule of law is essential – ideally one that can operate more quickly than the ECJ. Something like an OLAF for the Rule of Law, an independent office specifically designed to identify early breaches of rule of law and European values.

  • I wasn’t in Florence for #cofoe #TheFutureIsYours, though @demsoc colleagues were.

    I wasn’t in Florence for #cofoe #TheFutureIsYours, though @demsoc colleagues were. I see a lot of people here talking about one recommendation (on more European citizen assemblies) but it’s worth saying there were almost 40 others, on a much wider range of issues.

    For me the most interesting recommendations were those on rule of law and media freedom, confirming that these aren’t just elite/Brussels bubble concerns but the concerns of citizens from around Europe.

    Also worth noting is how much citizens overall saw Europe as a level of government that needed direct accountability to them – not surprising in some ways but a big change from the state-based proto-confederalism that is the structural logic of today’s EU.

    This came out most clearly in the recommendation on (what are known in Brussels as) transnational lists for the European Parliament – a voting system that would force candidates to appeal across national boundaries.

    So read the whole list to see a lot of interesting ideas, beyond more CAs, delivered in a very short time. Over to the citizen ambassadors and the others at the conference plenary to see what they can do with this raw material.

  • Links from the week of 24 May 2021

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • All Europeans now know that DeKalb County exists, AND that it’s pronounced de-cab, so why…

    All Europeans now know that DeKalb County exists, AND that it’s pronounced de-cab, so why don’t they know as much about European politics as they do about American? Because we have a better electoral system.

    Of course, the US is big, and important, and the elections are huge news events – BUT part of the problem with American elections is that first past the post (winner takes all) elections create lots of narrow finishes and high drama – at the cost of millions of wasted votes.

    The reason that we know about @ItsInDeKalb is that the US electoral system makes swing counties in swing states hugely important. I guarantee that you will never hear @TehamaCountyED get the same focus – because it’s in California.

    But in the same way you will never hear about Łomża county (pronounced WOM-zha) holding the balance of power in the European Parliament – because it never will. Proportional representation means that a few votes in Łomża don’t turn the scale more than a few votes in Warsaw.

    That’s bad for the tourism service of @umlomza, but good for European governance, and for European voters. Quick, proportional elections mean votes count more equally. They make for good politics, but bad political theatre (and no days of sitting in front of Euronews).

  • Links from the week of 4 May 2020

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 23 September 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 23 September 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • This is a very good and fair-minded explainer on the Irish border from @pmdfoster but I’d…

    This is a very good and fair-minded explainer on the Irish border from @pmdfoster telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/bre… but I’d quibble with one point.

    This paragraph is not quite right. Rules are not handed to Dublin (or London) by the EU. The Irish and UK governments and the MEPs their voters elect are the ones who pass the rules. The problem with Northern Ireland is the UK is giving up its say.

    That means that voters in Northern Ireland will have no say in the rules governing them, unlike voters in the rest of Ireland. Realistically, the UK will probably have to stay close to EU rules if it wants a decent trade deal of any sort, but at least in return for giving up its

    voice in Europe, the Westminster parliament will have sovereignty to the very limited extent of choosing to be a US rule taker or an EU rule taker. Brexit means – against its democratic will – Northern Ireland doesn’t even get the comfort blanket of fake sovereignty.

  • Links from the week of 25 May 2015

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 18 August 2014

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.