Merkel's Chilling Vision of a Post-democratic Europe — Lawyer

This week, Angela Merkel set out her chilling vision of the EU as a federal superstate:"My vision is one of political union ... We need to become incrementally closer and closer, in all policy areas ... Over a long process, we will transfer more powers to the [European] Commission, which will then handle what falls within the European remit like a government of Europe. That will require a strong parliament. A kind of second chamber, if you like, will be the council comprising the heads of [national] government. And finally, the Supreme Court will be the European Court of Justice."

2011 saw the joyful removal of unelected tyrants across North Africa. Meanwhile, to the north of the Mediterranean, Greece and Italy saw their duly elected leaders deposed, and replaced with unelected ones. Ironically, perhaps, the first leader to be deposed was the Greek president -- pushed from power in the very cradle of democracy itself. Why? Because he dared suggest that the Greek people might want a democratic referendum on Europe.

In a matter of days, these two deposed leaders -- Papandreou and Berlusconi -- were replaced with seasoned and loyal Eurocrats. Yet this was not the handiwork of the EU, as such. In fact, the legitimate institutions of the EU have been sidelined in much the same way as the elected governments of Europe's democratic nation states.

The real power in Europe is now vested in the Groupe de Francfort -- the Frankfurt Group. At last year's G-20 summit in Cannes, some delegates could be seen sporting badges identifying them as members of Europe's new power nexus, which had been founded just weeks earlier in Frankfurt. Reuters quickly -- and not inaccurately -- dubbed the Frankfurt Group the Eurozone's "politburo."

It consists of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, IMF chief Christine Lagarde, as well as the heads of the ECB, the Eurogroup finance ministers, the European Commission and the European Council. Essentially, the group consists of unelected technocrats, led by a Franco-German axis. However, its real power lies with Merkel and Sarkozy -- and the real power within "Merkozy" lies with Merkel. Therefore, without any democratic mandate to do so, Angela Merkel and her coterie are now openly seeking a radical federalisation of Europe -- merrily subsuming ancient nation states and riding roughshod over the basic principles of democratic accountability.

Read it at The Huffington Post

Merkel's Chilling Vision of a Post-democratic Europe
Rory Fitzgerald — journalist and lawyer

Haven't we seen this movie before?