The Concept of Democracy II

This is the second part of the short read I posted earlier called “The Concept of Democracy”. Today I have put my vote in for the European elections.

The European elections are a strange election. When looking at Europe today, politically speaking we look at the European Union. Every country that has political parties that want and are able to represent their voters can have members in parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. These representatives are elected in every member state in Europe. As a Dutch and European citizen I am allowed to vote.

What is strange is that I am not allowed to vote for candidates outside of the Netherlands. If the European Union is really a union of European states I would expect to be able to vote for another European candidate. There are 751 seats in the European parliament. 751 people to politically represent a continent and the number of seats per member state is determined by a European rule for proportional representation per member state population.

Out of all the countries in the Europe the Netherlands has 26 out of 751 seats. I would have preferred it if each member state was given 10 seats or 20 for easier voting and counting of votes. Common interests lead to common solutions no matter how big or small the population per member state. Either way the European Union has decided and based on its way of seemingly overriding common sense I voted.

I voted on a critical party that values transparency, a critical evaluation of civil rights and privacy. My vote has also been influenced by the 2005 referendum for the European constitution in which the Netherlands voted against in big numbers. In 2007 in the Treaty of Lisbon the European constitution was ratified by the Dutch Cabinet of ministers and prime minister without the direct consent of the Dutch citizens. I can understand the political pressure on the Dutch cabinet. I cannot forget though how they and the EU “fucked over” the democratic vote that was cast in 2005.

When I write “fucked over” I mean it. I shall not forget the EU’s role in this affair. For every pro-EU voter I only have two words: “referendum 2005”.

When the EU calls itself democratic I remind myself of “referendum 2005”. The men in suits can produce hot air as they speak their EU-propaganda. I see salesmen of bureaucratic and diplomatic tyranny who were afraid of their citizens.