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 The impossibility of EU debateElsewhere on openDemocracy
As the Tomorrow's Europe deliberation was designed to encourage debate as much as anything, it was intriguing to see this analysis of the current state of the EU debate in the UK over at A Fistful of Euros:
"More than ever before, the entire tone of the debate about Europe in the UK seems deranged. But this time out, it also seems to be increasingly recognised that this is so.
Let's face it, if debates revolve almost entirely around unsupported assertions and overblown rhetoric, they tend to do little more than further polarise opinion. Even the terminology of the EU debate - where everyone seems to be forced into either the "eurosceptic" or "europhile" camp, with no room for the myriad shades of gray, and "eurosceptic" these days tending to mean withdrawalist rather than merely someone who can see the flaws of the EU - seems designed to preclude genuine discussion. At some point, for coherent positions to be formed, it is necessary to resort to fact. But one of the many troubles with the EU is that facts are often very hard to come by. The Reform Treaty is a prime example of this, as former Ambassador Brian Barder points out: "whatever the rights and wrongs of an undertaking given by a previous administration, a referendum now would be unacceptably dangerous for Britain, not because the government can't trust the British people to make a sensible decision but because the outcome would be vulnerable to the lies and misrepresentations of the fanatically Europhobic and unscrupulous tabloids, and similarly unprincipled elements of the Conservative party, whose real objections are not to the small print of the treaty but to British membership of the European Union. The prospects of a referendum result that reflected a mature weighing up of the overall pros and cons of ratification, after exhaustive analysis and discussion of the issues and the likely consequences of non-ratification, would be almost nil" Add to that the sheer complexity of the document, even if the debate were to be conducted in mature terms, who could really hope to understand it. A typical passage from the new treaty quoted by Barder epitomises everything that makes sensible discussion of the EU so damn hard: "Articles 29 to 39 of Title VI of the EU Treaty, which relate to judicial cooperation in criminal matters and to police cooperation, shall be replaced by Articles 61 to 68 and 69e to 69l of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; they shall be amended as set out in Article 2, points 64, 67 and 68, of this Treaty. The heading of the Title shall be deleted and its number shall become the number of the Title on final provisions." With things this opaque, what hope is there? Trackback URL for this post:http://www.opendemocracy.net/trackback/34923
Anthony Barnett (London, OK): As the Brown government makes a hash of its so-called citizens juries, James Fishkin reports on the conclusion to the altogether more serious efforts to listen to the people of Europe which Clive James Matthews has been blogg Anthony Barnett (London, OK): As the Brown government makes a hash of its so-called citizens juries, James Fishkin reports on the conclusion to the altogether more serious efforts to listen to the people of Europe which Clive James Matthews has been blogg Jon Bright (London, OK): The EU's experiment in deliberative democracy, which J Clive Matthews has been covering for openDemocracy on our dLiberation blog, has drawn to a close. Now it's time to see if there are any lessons for the EU - and perhaps other Jon Bright (London, OK): The EU's experiment in deliberative democracy, which J Clive Matthews has been covering for openDemocracy on our dLiberation blog, has drawn to a close. Now it's time to see if there are any lessons for the EU - and perhaps other Jon Bright (London, OK): Received an email over the weekend outlining the current status of Cameron's "Stand Up, Speak Up" website, an attempt to get voters engaged in the construction of the Conservative manifesto. Engagement is something both parties ar Peter Facey (with Labour in Bournemouth, Unlock Democracy): Well, I have just attended my first fringe of Labour conference with our Foreign Secretary David Milliband and Lord Neil Kinnock to name a few, on Britain’s role in Europe, organised by the Lab Peter Facey (with Labour in Bournemouth, Unlock Democracy): Well, I have just attended my first fringe of Labour conference with our Foreign Secretary David Milliband and Lord Neil Kinnock to name a few, on Britain’s role in Europe, organised by the Lab Peter Facey (with Labour in Bournemouth, Unlock Democracy): Well, I have just attended my first fringe of Labour conference with our Foreign Secretary David Milliband and Lord Neil Kinnock to name a few, on Britain’s role in Europe, organised by the Lab Anthony Barnett (London, OK): A new openDemocracy blog has been launched: dLiberation. Its immediate mandate, to cover the Tomrrow's Europe experiment in Brussels next month. Its author, the famous J Clive Mathews, known to many of us as nosemonkey.Three Anthony Barnett (London, OK): As the Brown government makes a hash of its so-called citizens juries, James Fishkin reports on the conclusion to the altogether more serious efforts to listen to the people of Europe which Clive James Matthews has been blogg Jon Bright (London, OK): The EU's experiment in deliberative democracy, which J Clive Matthews has been covering for openDemocracy on our dLiberation blog, has drawn to a close. Now it's time to see if there are any lessons for the EU - and perhaps other Jon Bright (London, OK): Received an email over the weekend outlining the current status of Cameron's "Stand Up, Speak Up" website, an attempt to get voters engaged in the construction of the Conservative manifesto. Engagement is something both parties ar Peter Facey (with Labour in Bournemouth, Unlock Democracy): Well, I have just attended my first fringe of Labour conference with our Foreign Secretary David Milliband and Lord Neil Kinnock to name a few, on Britain’s role in Europe, organised by the Lab Anthony Barnett (London, OK): A new openDemocracy blog has been launched: dLiberation. Its immediate mandate, to cover the Tomrrow's Europe experiment in Brussels next month. Its author, the famous J Clive Mathews, known to many of us as nosemonkey.Three |
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