Growing Plot to Unite the EU under one non-elected President

[Dreadnought]

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/318045/EU-plot-to-scrap-Britain

A covert group of EU foreign ministers has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.

The new bureaucrat, who would not be directly elected by voters, is set to get sweeping control over the entire EU and force member countries into ever-greater political and economic union. Tellingly, the UK has been excluded from the confidential discussions within the shady “Berlin Group” of Europhile politicians, spearheaded by German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.

Opponents fear the plan could create a modern-day equivalent of the European emperor envisaged by Napoleon Bonaparte or a return to the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne that dominated Europe in the Dark Ages. They are concerned that David Cameron’s coalition Government is doing nothing to prevent the sinister plot. The secret talks were uncovered by Independent Labour peer Lord Stoddart of Swindon.

Is this a serious plan? Are the pieces already in place for such a move? How would the European community react to such a venture?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

The first sentence of the article uses the word 'Eurocrat', so without going any further into detail you immediately know where these guys are coming from. I think it's as believable as similar British anti-EU fearmongering like a pan Eurpean army that would conscript British citizens.
Even if there was 'a secret plot' to merge two offices, it would not create a 'European Emperor' (which is such a badass title that it makes me almost wish they did it). This is distortion of facts and fearmongering. If it's not an outright lie that is.
It's on the same level as Glenn Beck screaming DEATH PANELS !

 

[AlpsStranger]

Strikes me as a little

to be honest.

 

[Tahuti]

The new bureaucrat, who would not be directly elected by voters

Not even the US president is directly elected, so what's the fuss?

 

[Winner]

More on this story:

European pact for Growth?

European intellectuals call for an European Volunteer Service

German ex-Chancellor want a political union

It's a conspiracy!!

---

Seriously, we all know about the rabid euroscepticism of the British press, there is no need to remind us of it. Just read the language: "a covert group" - as if such ambitions were kept secret or something, whereas in reality it has been discussed openly for decades; "Abolish nation states" - yeah right, because more integration would automatically mean a dissolution of nation states, sure.

I am all for debating this more, but this is a really bad article to be used as a basis of any reasonable discussion.

 

[Leoreth]

It's funny, either the EU is a bunch of powerless institutions that can't get anything done, or it's the tool of a secret conspiracy to subjugate Europe.

Personally I wouldn't mind this change, by the way, although electing this guy would be even better. Rompuy is a totally useless part of the system anyway.

 

[Dreadnought]

Ah, so it's a sham? I don't know much about European news agencies.

 

[Silurian]

The Daily Express wants the UK to leave the EU and will slant its stories with that aim.

 

[Oerdin]

Strikes me as a little

to be honest.

More than a little.

 

[Winner]

Ah, so it's a sham? I don't know much about European news agencies.

British tabloid press is a sham(e), yes. A bunch of phone hacking crooks at best.

As for the "conspiracy" to unite Europe in a single political union, it has my full support

 

[Kyriakos]

Not that there is any issue with a "democracy" numbering more than half a billion people...

I do not think anymore that this is going to work. When things got tough, it showed just how much of a union this was.

A better union would be between countries with historical ties/good relations. But even that looks unlikely now.

The world in general is in a pretty bad state, but it was so before as well. Looks likely that there will some great war or similar event in the future.

 

[Winner]

Not that there is any issue with a "democracy" numbering more than half a billion people...

I do not think anymore that this is going to work. When things got tough, it showed just how much of a union this was.

Is. The fact that we're a community doesn't mean everyone has to pay to keep an alcoholic from ending up on the street. If Greece wasn't an EU member, it would have gone through far more pain.

A better union would be between countries with historical ties/good relations. But even that looks unlikely now.

EU members have excellent relations with each other and very substantial historical/cultural ties.

The world in general is in a pretty bad state, but it was so before as well. Looks likely that there will some great war or similar event in the future.

Not in Europe.

 

[Kyriakos]

Don't demonize nations to justify your irrational stance, else you will be in a slippery slope to go ever further away from logic to continue to uphold your crippled idealism.

 

[Winner]

Don't demonize nations to justify your irrational stance,

I am not demonizing anybody. Greece got itself into this trouble on its own. Blaming it on those who actually want to help Greece is not only irrational, but also pretty counter-productive.

else you will be in a slippery slope to go ever further away from logic to continue to uphold your crippled idealism.

My logic is just fine, thank you. In any community of people, the individual has to have responsibility over what he does. It applies to states as well - the EU may be a union, but it doesn't mean everyone has got a ticket to screw up and avoid consequences.

 

[Hehehe]

If Greece wasn't an EU member, it would have gone through far more pain.

I'm actually not so sure about that last part. But I guess this discussion belongs in it's own thread. Also, the bailouts aren't about helping Greece.

But back on topic, the EU "president" rules over EU countries kind of like NATO president rules over NATO countries, and EU institutions are very unlikely to have much power over individual countries at least in the near future.

 

[Winner]

The Commission is preeetty powerful as far as international institutions go.

 

[Hehehe]

The Commission is preeetty powerful as far as international institutions go.

Compared to other international institutions, yes. But my point is that most of the power still resides within individual countries themselves, and it is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

 

[Cato the Elder]

I like how the link is called "EU plot to scrap Britain". This makes no sense to me. The European Union is an entity I've largely lost faith in as well, thanks to their reactions to the entire debt crisis, especially focused on Greece, but they're not some kind of evil entity that wants to destroy British culture and put it firmly under a new Holy Roman Imperial boot. Why does this hullabaloo still make its way in the British press so often?

 

[Winner]

Depends on how you see it. Isn't something about 80% of the legislation passed by national parliaments actually drafted by the EU (of course it then needs to be implemented by individual member states, but the impetus comes from Brussels)?

This alone is a very good reason to push on with increasing the democratic accountability of EU institutions - not to member states' governments, but to the European electorate as a whole.

 

[Silurian]

Why does this hullabaloo still make its way in the British press so often?

There are too many stupid people in my country