Thursday, April 21, 2011

In Spite of them for their OWN GOOD!

Jürgen Habermas:

Europe's unification process is faltering because the political elites are not committed to promoting increased citizen involvement, the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas writes in the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung: "As long as European citizens see only their national governments as the actors on the European stage they will perceive the decision-making processes as zero-sum games in which their own players must prevail over the others. ... It is quite possible that the expectation that Europe-weary nations will oppose the further transfer of sovereign rights even within the Union's core zone is correct. But this prediction is a convenient excuse for the political elites to shun their share of the responsibility for the pitiful state of the Union. ... The European unification process, which has always been driven above the heads of the citizens, has now reached a dead end because it can't go any further without converting from the present mode of administration to one that entails greater participation from Europe's citizens. The political elites are burying their heads in the sand. They are continuing with their elite project and the incapacitation of Europe's citizens."
Yeah?!? Well no-one really asked them anyway!

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