51–60 of 64 posts
As a Pole, I am torn. It would help fight Russian advances for sure, but it would also mean appeasing Israel. Spain's fierce stance against genocide in Palestine would be nearly impossible in a collective EU foreign policy.
Out of curiosity, can there not be something like a two party or N party veto? i.e. requiring a minimum of two or N parties to work together to veto? The choice between just a single party having a veto power vs no party with veto powers seems a little black and white to me. Happy to be enlightened on the matter.
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The EU survives for as long as it makes financial sense. Hungary never exited because they're a poverty stricken nation suffering brain drain.
It hasn't made sense for loads of nations since 2008 and they've loudly complained about it, but the political will to leave isn't there due to lack of flashpoint social issues. Get rid of the veto and that will change.
I remember clearly that 20 years ago when they were trying to pass their constitution they were saying: "do not worry we can transfer all power to the EU because any country could always veto it so it is safe"
They can leave though. UK would advise against it, I believe.
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Political structures exist to influence the world around them. A thousand or even a few hundred years ago most people travelled very little and often were born, lived and died in the same village. At that time the village was the natural unit of organisation. As communications improved, with horses, trains, planes, internet the unit of political organisation had to scale up to cities, regions, nations and now supra n…
The nation-state is a current living concept that nation-states and their peoples for the most part are incredibly attached to. If you want to convince the peoples of the EU that is an outdated concept that has lived its time, that is a tough and long road ahead of you, or von der Layen if that is the road she’s pursuing but right now there’s plenty of national governments well beyond Hungary that have been displease…
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https://michalovadek.github.io/eu-veto-tracker/ . It's not just the nationalistic usual suspects that use their veto power. This rightly points out that many issues that are known will have their veto used don't even get brought up. Removal of the veto will stop this and I expect lightning rod topics and disputes to occur much more frequently. Same with the free-riding comment. Removing the veto will expose some nati…
> many issues that are known will have their veto used don't even get brought up. It's quite disingenuous to blame the veto power for lack of discussion on important issues, if anything it's an argument in favor of the veto, because the only reason to avoid discussion when you lack coercive power is weak arguments... and there's no need to waste time with such nonsense. > Removing the veto will expose some nations "t…
Nobody is keeping obvious policy programs in their back pocket. Especially when politicians are chasing clips.
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> EU is asking countries to give up their right to veto foreign policy decisions. Any country can veto this proposal. Hopefully it well be vetoed by more than one. There is no realistic alternative to veto in the situation the EU is in. It could be an option later on, they have to be patient, now is the worst time to move towards coercive powers. Especially under such a nonsensical pretext: >> Von der Leyen uses Orbá…
Some think this is one of the major broken thing in the EU, the inability to handle quickly, speak with one voice. Veto right is actually very undemocratic: A minuscule minority overrules the vast majority. but it was the only way to convince countries to form the EU. And to be fair, it’s a way of protecting minorities. > There is no realistic alternative to veto in the situation the EU is in. Many many people disagr…
This is not a game of numbers, numbers would have some weight if decisions were affecting everyone equally, but the EU isn't homogeneous, foreign policy issues affect different countries differently depending on geography, culture and history e.g. Central Europe is much less exposed to adverse events, dependencies and risks than the periphery.
As I said before, now it's not the time for coercive changes, wait until integration takes its course and makes the political environment approximately the same for all members, the EU is far from that now.
> but it was the only way to convince countries to form the EU.
Then don't alter the deal and ask everyone to pray for not altering it any further.
> There is no alternative to supporting Ukraine as much as possible.
Depends on what each of the EU members considers possible and what risky - forcing some countries to go against their economic and political security will most likely lead to re-partitioning of Europe and another age of European wars.
It's quite disturbing to observe the continuous lack of an honest conversation about the political realities in Europe, which is precisely how the leading countries of the EU blew Ukraine / Russia... removing veto power only reduces the incentives for that to ever happen.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some think this is one of the major broken thing in the EU, the inability to handle quickly, speak with one voice. Veto right is actually very undemocratic: A minuscule minority overrules the vast majority. but it was the only way to convince countries to form the EU. And to be fair, it’s a way of protecting minorities. > There is no realistic alternative to veto in the situation the EU is in. Many many people disagr…
> A minuscule minority overrules the vast majority. This is not a game of numbers, numbers would have some weight if decisions were affecting everyone equally, but the EU isn't homogeneous, foreign policy issues affect different countries differently depending on geography, culture and history e.g. Central Europe is much less exposed to adverse events, dependencies and risks than the periphery. As I said before, now…
What is tariffs affect one country more than the others, should it be allowed to veto a tariff decision?
I agree now might not be the perfect time, but there never will be. and this veto thing is really crippling the EUs ability to act.
The EU has a problem with a lack of legitimisation of the whole political construct and other power players know about this weakness. The degree of freedom in political decision is strongly inhibited. This wouldn't solve any problems either, on the contrary. Personally I don't feel like a EU citizen. It is like being a citizen of a bureaucratic monster that serves no specific function. That tries to justify its exist…
There are a lot of upsides to being in the EU. It's so much easier to move aroud, both for short term travel and longer term too. The common currency (at least in most countries) really helps as do things like no roaming charges. If you decide you want to go and look for a job in another country you just do it, no visa hassle or asking permissions. I was born in the UK and moved to France (long before Brexit thank go…
Meanwhile, while people can vote for an inhibited parliament, it is far too removed from the average citizen that neither knows the people they are voting for, nor can they probably understand them.
VdL would have never been successful if people understood what she was saying or had said in the past. It is a democratic circus and a clear symptom.
As a Pole, I am torn. It would help fight Russian advances for sure, but it would also mean appeasing Israel. Spain's fierce stance against genocide in Palestine would be nearly impossible in a collective EU foreign policy.
I might have missed something: Why is fighting Russia equivalent to supporting Israel? Honest question, I have a hard time motivating myself to follow the news at the moment…