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EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

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Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#81
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And where do you think the people in the commission come from? National governments; what happens there is simply that stuff that couldn't be made to pass nationally gets readministered via the EU. Besides, the EU is not a 'state'.

Who voted for the EU President? (Nobody: He was installed by Heads of Industry from the member states..) >Besides, the EU is not a 'state'. Yup, and therein lies the problem.

Who voted for the German president? Nobody.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#82

Someone this determined to do something so wrong cannot be assumed to be neutral. This guy must be corrupt and on someone's pay-list. It would be in the EU's interest to start an investigation of Karel De Gucht to determine if this person is bribed and if these proceedings is a result of corruption. The EU would be wise to do so for its own business sake and before it's perception as a democratic body is tarnished in…

He doesn't have to be corrupt; he simply has to believe that ACTA is good for Europe. If he's trying to circumvent various obstacles in his way, it's because he thinks they're wrong.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#83

Someone this determined to do something so wrong cannot be assumed to be neutral. This guy must be corrupt and on someone's pay-list. It would be in the EU's interest to start an investigation of Karel De Gucht to determine if this person is bribed and if these proceedings is a result of corruption. The EU would be wise to do so for its own business sake and before it's perception as a democratic body is tarnished in…

He's currently under investigation by the belgian authorities for tax evasion. But i doubt he's actually been bribed in this case. He's the sort of guy who genuinely believes ACTA is not only desirable but absolutely essential.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#84
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These "facists" and "nazis" are there as a reaction to the EU. They're the only ones people can vote for to express a negative opinion on the EU. If the EU disappears, they'll have survive on their actual ideology instead, and then they'll disappear again. And regarding the financials, the EEA and Schengen are perfectly fine. Norway, Switzerland etc don't have significantly higher barriers to trade. Personally I'm pr…

These "facists" and "nazis" are there as a reaction to the EU. They're the only ones people can vote for to express a negative opinion on the EU. If the EU disappears, they'll have survive on their actual ideology instead, and then they'll disappear again. Errr..... History proves you wrong. Fascism was at the zenith of it's power when there was no EU. The danger is if the EU disappears, the fascists will come up wit…

Fascism is caused by the economic depression. The EU has proven itself to be completely economically inept. Therefore today's Fascism was caused by the EU.

I would also point out there was no Fascism during the relatively peaceful age from the defeat of Napoleon until WWI, as well as no EU.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#85

Someone this determined to do something so wrong cannot be assumed to be neutral. This guy must be corrupt and on someone's pay-list. It would be in the EU's interest to start an investigation of Karel De Gucht to determine if this person is bribed and if these proceedings is a result of corruption. The EU would be wise to do so for its own business sake and before it's perception as a democratic body is tarnished in…

> It would be in the EU's interest to start an investigation

Unfortunately the EU's track record isn't very good in this regard[1].

> If the EU loses its perception as democratic

I can't speak for everyone but the EU is not a democratic institution (in terms of direct or participatory democracy) and some people understand this.

> chances are that the rich and populous democracies which funds it will be forced to stop doing so.

No, they're forced to fund it whether they want to or not. The entire Euro currency crisis persists because there is no organised or planned way for a country to leave the Euro. In any other situation the PIGGS would've left by now and could've inflated their way out. Instead the Eurozone countries in the north are stuck with the countries in the olive belt for better or worse and it's hurting all sides. Likewise, there is no documented and planned way for a country to leave the EU.

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Andreasen#Concerns_over_E...

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#86
post #10

We clearly need to rebuild European Institutions from the ground up. I'm fully in favor of the European Union as a federal state but to achieve this it is mandatory for the European institutions to stop relying on country representatives or people who were just nominated and rely instead on elected people (and their representatives i.e. a prime minister for the European parliament for example), like in any proper dem…

> It is also a clear sign that despite all the efforts put out in the last few years, associations and companies that are willing to protect Internet freedom are not spending enough money and energy on actually doing it.

That's because doing this would have the opposite effect. They would be inviting governments to take control of the Internet.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#87
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue here is that the EU currently is a de facto confederation. The EU parliament can not be, and is not, the supreme legislative body for the simple reason that the member states are still sovereign, with the ability to withdraw (though there are some legal questions in some member countries about how that would be possible). It is the same issue facing the US under the Articles of Confederation, where Congress…

> It is a "workaround" for the fact that a federal EU is currently entirely unpalatable to the electorate in most European countries I'm sure in every EU country, most voters would prefer it if the unelected commission couldn't overrule the elected parliament.

Unfortunately what most voters would prefer is largely irrelevant due to the current structure.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#88
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU is not supposed to be democratic.

And yet it has a democratically elected parliament.

Which looks like a soap opera at best and has no teeth as all the decisions are made at the commission and council level. It also has precious little by way of financial transparency or accountability to the public it claims to represent.

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#89
post #12

Good news. Strengthens the case significantly for the EU to be abandoned.

And where would that leave us ? Massive recession in Germany, Bankrupcy for the southern nations, a few hurt nations (France, Italy, others) closing their borders to try to survive on their own, and the UK surviving as a dependency of the US. With fascist parties triumphing everywhere around (they are already doing 20%+ in a lot of countries, there are even nazis in the Greek parliament now). And, of course, global e…

Or we can keep it as is, undemocratic and non-functioning with fiscal union on the horizon all controlled from and dominated by Germany. I'm amazed no-one thought of that before!

Re: EU Commissioner Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By EU Parliament

#90
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These "facists" and "nazis" are there as a reaction to the EU. They're the only ones people can vote for to express a negative opinion on the EU. If the EU disappears, they'll have survive on their actual ideology instead, and then they'll disappear again. Errr..... History proves you wrong. Fascism was at the zenith of it's power when there was no EU. The danger is if the EU disappears, the fascists will come up wit…

Fascism is caused by the economic depression. The EU has proven itself to be completely economically inept. Therefore today's Fascism was caused by the EU. I would also point out there was no Fascism during the relatively peaceful age from the defeat of Napoleon until WWI, as well as no EU.

The EU has proven itself to be completely economically inept

Err, what? The EU (& Common Market before it) has done wonders for trade and business. That's why many countries want to get into it.

Several member states have had soverign debt crises (but then, the USA almost defaulted), but that has nothing to do with the EU. (More EU intergration might have stopped that)

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