the powerful new EU: a setback for democracy

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Nov 06, 2009

If France suddenly ceased to exist as an independent state, would that qualify as big news-- a story that belonged on the top of the headlines?

Well in a sense that's what happened this week. With the final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on November 3, France-- along with the other 26 nations of the European Union-- became a small partner in a very large new enterprise. When the treaty takes effect on December 1, Europe will have a single president with sweeping new powers. The individual member-states will retain their own parliaments and their own executives, but they will have a new boss.

How did it happen that so many European governments lost their autonomy without a fight? It happened, argues Paul Belien, because the leaders of those European government wanted it to happen. Belien-- who writes from Brussels, but is definitely not a fan of the new power center there-- sees the newly powerful European Union as a means by which the international elite controls the ordinary populace:

The EU is basically a cartel, consisting of the 27 governments of the member states, who have concluded that it is easier to pass laws in the secret EU meetings with their colleagues than through their own national parliaments in the glare of public criticism.

Belien's argument is worth reading in full. Particularly noteworthy is his recounting of how the Lisbon Treaty came into force, just a few years after the people of France and Denmark had voted against adoption of a strong European constitution. The Lisbon Treaty was not rejected by the public; because the public never had a chance; it was approved quietly by parliamentary motions in the member-states. Only in Ireland did the people vote on the Lisbon Treaty, and when they voted against it there, the government soon scheduled a new vote, and campaigned energetically-- and in the end successfully-- for a Yes vote.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus was the last holdout, and when he hinted that he would not sign the treaty, other European leaders stepped up the pressure. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner explained that "a single man is not allowed to oppose the will of 500 million Europeans." But the point is that 500 million Europeans never had a chance to express their will. Like it or not, they are now subjects of the European Union.

The newly unified European Union will be a powerful presence in international affairs. Given the current climate of opinion in Europe, it will not exert that force to promote the dignity of human life, or to safeguard the legitimate public role of religious faith. It seems unlikely, too, that the European Union will be a force in favor of democracy, since this new super-state was established by such patently anti-democratic means.