Thread: President of Europe is a Belgian

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

It's slightly more complicated than that, I think. European law is so immensely complicated that it literally takes a degree in European law to understand the EU (or its predecessors). Europe as we know it was shaped by men with visions (and the understandable desire of its peoples to keep my people from occupying then every 20 years), whose ideas were turned into laws. I'm a political scientist, but I do not understand the EU, at least not to a degree which enables me to take informed decisions. And that's probably the biggest problem: you simply have to believe that politicians and lawyers will get it right. For a nation like England with its high degree of independence, that is likely a lot harder to digest than for, say, Germans, who are traditionally more obedient.

I have only just looked back on this thread.


"you simply have to believe that politicians and lawyers will get it right"

What an extraordinary thing to say or believe!

I seem to recall that Hitler was a "politician" originally elected by the people.

I understand the vision of Europe as a means of avoiding future wars. But that was not why the British people joined the EU. We joined because we believed it to be in our economic interest.

Fear of war and terrorism should never be allowed to determine the way we live. It is the appeasement of evil.

As to believing politicians will get it right - what an idea! We may as well live on another planet. Politicians are motivated by many things. Sadly, the most compelling is a love of power.

I was a local authority Chief Executive. I can tell you this: on all the truly important decisions, the biggest single factor that determined the way a politician voted was the effect on his party, not the people.

Do you seriously believe that politicians in general put the people before their party?

I would love to live in a world where I could trust politicians. But I don't. Yet. They must be subjected at all times to rigorous scrutiny. Thank goodness for a free press. The media are not perfect but they are our protection against the excesses of politicians.

Originally Posted by Fido

I was a local authority Chief Executive. I can tell you this: on all the truly important decisions, the biggest single factor that determined the way a politician voted was the effect on his party, not the people.

Do you seriously believe that politicians in general put the people before their party?

That matches my first-hand experience in several political institutions as well... you vote the party line on important things, if you vote against it you'll need a new party before the next election cycle. "The people" are only important when you are in the minority or when the vote has no impact on the bottom line.