Are Libertas confused about their position on the European Union

What Vision?

I listened to rte this morning and Libertas said they wanted a more democratic european union!!

To me that means transfering more power to the European Parliament from national parliaments.

They also tried to distance themselves from being called eurosceptics.

Is anyone else confused about Libertas?

The Corinthian

Libertas have been fairly consistent with regards to this principle in fairness. Of course, whether they would put their money where their mouths are and run a campaign on the basis of moving power from the Commission and national governments to the European parliament is another matter.

My feeling is that they could be genuine about such an aim. On the other hand, no one wants to appear to be 'anti' anything (or pro anything unpopular) in politics (pro-Life and pro-Choice being examples of such spin), so it really depends on how they would propose making the EU more democratic and how they would pursue such an aim that matters.

Until such a time as they do so, I'd treat any such claims by them as sound bites and little more.

ixtlan

What Vision? wrote: »

I listened to rte this morning and Libertas said they wanted a more democratic european union!!

To me that means transfering more power to the European Parliament from national parliaments.

They also tried to distance themselves from being called eurosceptics.

Is anyone else confused about Libertas?

All things to all people. Some people (probably Libertas) will say a more democratic union means more power to the national parliaments and more power for the electorates in each state to vote independently to approve measures. Of course this is then breaking up the whole idea of a European consensus, since it's unlikely any further progress would be made to move the EU forward. You would find it difficult to get 27 electorates to separately agree on anything. It's hard enough when the decision makers are in the same room for 7 years!

Ix.

The Corinthian

A good point. It all depends on how they define democratic.

One could argue that all treaties and proposals should be passed by referendum in all member states as being democratic. However the subtext is that it would also be democratic to the point of making any consensus unworkable.

justfortherecor

Well I would have considered the ability for Commissioners to be elected by the European Parliament rather than simply appointed as a move towards a more democratic EU.

But again, its pretty subjective as to what people define as democratic today.

Scofflaw

justfortherecor wrote: »

Well I would have considered the ability for Commissioners to be elected by the European Parliament rather than simply appointed as a move towards a more democratic EU.

It would make more sense to move something of the power of legislative proposal away from the Commission. Electing Commissioners has all sorts of problems.

justfortherecor wrote: »

But again, its pretty subjective as to what people define as democratic today.

It's being used as a label at this stage - simply a way of saying "we are more right than you". One can certainly argue that vetoes are not democratic - indeed, traditionally, veto powers are found in the hands of the monarchic authority.

cordially,
Scofflaw