“Federal Europe now!” says Irish “no to Lisbon” campaign leader

Bit of a surprise to check out an article in Irish Independent by Declan Ganley, the leader of the “No” campaign in the two Lisbon Treaty referendums, and find it a full-throated call for the immediate creation of a federal European state.

The proposition of a fully federal European Union fills many Europeans with deep concerns and I must say that it should. The idea that we would further centralise power to the European Union in its current form should be an anathema to any right-thinking lover of liberty and democracy.

In the words of David Hume, “it is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once,” but a further concentration of central power without accountability would be a very mighty step.

So Europe must now grasp the nettle of major reform, of ‘Treaty change’, to establish a Europe not of the now defunct and near literally bankrupt Lisbon Treaty, but one created ‘by the people for the people’, a Europe bringing us that only form of temporal governance that should ever be acceptable to free peoples, government by consent of the governed.

He does not mean, however, the British notion of a free trade association where everyone gets their own right to break the rules, on the contrary:

1. The position of president of the European Commission and president of the European Council should be merged into one office holder and should be made subject of a popular democratic election to be held on November 11th (Armistice Day) 2013. Voters should be weighted in an ‘electoral college’ type format so that smaller member states voters are not made irrelevant. This president would serve for one six-year term only and would be chairman and chief executive in the same manner as the president of the United States of America.

2. The Commission should become the servants of the Executive arm and be filled by nomination of the democratically elected president, and ratification of a newly created upper house or senate of the European Parliament.

4. The European Parliament should be given the power (along with its upper house) to initiate legislation.

8. The Union should have monopoly of external action both in soft and hard power. 

This is radical stuff – and surprising, although Ganley has always been clear that his anti-Europeanism has been from the democratic rather than the nationalist perspective.

I wonder whether any British Eurosceptics feel the same way?

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Oh for a democratic dictatorship

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama. Image via Wikipedia

There’s a slightly odd article by Francis Fukuyama in today’s FT.  His argument is that the checks and balances in the US constitution have hardened (under pressure from more ideological politics) into a situation where nothing can be done due to the presence of unbreakable and increasingly common vetoes like the filibuster rule.

Fukuyama compares the UK and US budget-making process, to the UK’s advantage:

The advantage of the British system with its fewer opportunities to cast vetoes is clear when it comes to passing budgets. The budget is written by the chancellor of the exchequer, who as an executive agent makes the difficult trade-offs between spending and taxes. This budget is passed by parliament, with little modification, a week or two after the government introduces it.

In the American system, by contrast, the president announces a budget at the beginning of the fiscal cycle; it is more an aspirational document than a political reality. The US constitution firmly locates spending authority in Congress, and indeed all 535 members of Congress use their potential veto power to extract concessions. The budget that eventually emerges after months of interest group lobbying is the product not of a coherent government plan, but of horse-trading among individual legislators, who always find it easier to achieve consensus by exchanging spending increases for tax cuts. Hence the permanent bias towards deficits.

Of course, without major constitutional reform, it’s unlikely that the benefits, such as they are, of our system can be sent over to the US.

Fukuyama’s proposal is that the whole US budget be drafted by a small committee with a large official input (using the Congressional Budget Office as the UK uses the Treasury‘s spending teams), and then be subject to a straight up-or-down vote. As a proposal, it’s – to put it mildly – completely unworkable in the US system.

For all the implausibility of the final idea, the first half of the article, at least, is worth a read to get an appreciation of an outsider’s view of our simple – simplistic? – electoral system.

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Harmony, for a change

St. Cecilia, the focus of the Second Nun's Tale

Image via Wikipedia

Today is St. Cecilia’s Day, the day of the patron saint of music, and since politics and music are both about bringing harmony to chaos – aren’t they? – here’s a coalition-building part of Purcell’s “Ode for St Cecilia’s Day“.

Soul of the world! Inspired by thee,
The jarring seeds of matter did agree
Thou didst the scattered atoms bind,
Which by thy laws in true proportion joined
Made up of various parts,
One perfect harmony.  

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In Whitehall localism isn’t so local

Here’s a thoroughly depressing article by Dan Drillsma-Milgrom, arguing that Total Place is seen in Whitehall as an power grab by councils rather than a precursor of localism – and that we can expect lots more big-block commissioning from big-block private companies, rather than locally-driven commissioning.

Louise Casey’s troubled families unit is likely to look more towards a national consortia of the private and voluntary sectors rather than councils in intervening in the lives of the 120,000 families identified by Mr Cameron as leading chaotic lives. Speaking to LGC earlier this week, decentralisation minister Greg Clark said the work done by councils on using community budgets to help troubled families would be “one of” the strands involved and “not necessarily the only component”.

And don’t be surprised if the government, keen to emphasise the ‘crime’ aspect of police and crime commissioners, sees them as more suitable candidates to commission work with young offenders than councils.

It also means that those areas who will be successful in their bids to pilot whole place community budgets will be those that go with the grain and accept that the most they can hope for is to continue to use their ‘soft power’ to bring together a range of commissioners at the local level – some with bigger electoral mandates – to work together constructively.

What’s most depressing about it is that these big contracts can squeeze out small innovative companies and organisations (yes, like Demsoc, but plenty of others as well). Creating half a dozen public sector chaebols will not transform as well, or as thoroughly, as a true marketplace of ideas.

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Spain: “On road to the election, drive in 140 characters”

Mariano Rajoy

Could it be Rajoy? .... Yes, probably. Image via Wikipedia

So, it’s the Spanish general election on Sunday, and while many are saying that it’s a foregone conclusion…. well, yes, it probably is a foregone conclusion. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t interesting things happening in the campaign.

An article by El País (en Español, Google Translate) has an overview of the online campaigning so far. The likely loser, Rubalcaba, is a more prolific tweeter (74 tuits per day compared to 50 for likely winner Rajoy), but Rajoy has more followers – 108,000. That’s a pretty good showing (equivalent in population terms to about 200,000 for Ed Miliband). On the basis of a report (PDF, ES) from Ketchum Pleon, a communications consultancy, País reports that Twitter is the primary method for interaction rather than the blogs or Facebook accounts of the last campaign.

The minor parties such as IU (left-wing alliance) and UPyD (centrist anti-nationalist party) don’t fare so well by comparison, with IU steering clear of Twitter and concentrating on Facebook, though País reports that the tiny UPyD is the leading party on Spanish-based social network Tuenti.

There’s also a very nice little website widget provided by El País (in multiple languages) to track Sunday’s results live.

 

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The Worshipful Guild of Free Cobblers

Standing-striding figure of Nefertiti; Limesto...

Now living in Streatham. Image via Wikipedia

People who believe they’ve had previous lives always seem to have been Cleopatra or Nefertiti rather than an acne-ridden donkey drover from Lichfield.  In the same way, people who have discovered secret legal knowledge always discover things that enable them to do what the hell they like, while still having all the legal protections that the rest of us enjoy.

Enter the Freemen of Land “movement”, who (as described by law blogger Carl Gardner) think that if you don’t use your legal name, the law can’t touch you. In fact, they claim that they are in a state of lawful rebellion, and that this means they don’t need to pay taxes or repay debts.

I’ve always thought that this, like past life stuff, is a bit of harmless kookiness, even if with a darker undertone of paranoia. The language used reminds me a little of those Google ads for a “secret method” of tooth whitening or losing weight that a “young mum from [wherever I am]” invented and the capitalist pigs want to keep secret – yours for only £25+p&p.

So it was a bit of a surprise to see the Freemen make an appearance above the line on Comment is Free yesterday, as part of the Occupy CiF day.

I wouldn’t expect an article in the Guardian’s health section telling me about a miracle tooth-whitening formula discovered by a young mum from Camden Town, so I’m not sure why it was thought a good idea to publish an article which contains this utter nonsense:

All registered names [of children who have birth certificates] are Crown copyright. The legal definition of registration is transfer of title ownership, so anything that’s registered is handed over to the governing body; the thing itself is no longer yours. When you register a car, you’re agreeing to it not being yours – they send you back a form saying you’re the “registered keeper”. It’s a con. That’s why I say I’ve never had a name. We are all taught to be a name, the name on our birth certificate. But if you don’t consent to be that “person”, you step outside the system. According to the law books, a “natural person” (or human being) is distinct from the “person” as a legal entity. All the statutes and acts are acting up on the “person”, and if you’re admitting to being a person, you are admitting to be a corporation that can be acted upon for commerce.

Harmless nonsense? All views should be heard? Well, maybe. But this isn’t some random blog or forum, it’s the Guardian, and if we criticise the Mail for publishing utterly fabricated immigration stories for propaganda purposes, we should be even-handed and criticise the Guardian for putting its logo on this sort of rubbish.  The Occupy CiF day was a good idea, and many of the articles were interesting (though the excellent Adam Wagner points to another dangerously wrong article in his blog), but occupied or not, a paper has responsibility for what it puts above the line.

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Consultation: don’t do it like this (part 94)

The BBC is reporting that two schools in Peacehaven, near Brighton, are to merge despite 95% of responses to the consultation on the proposals being against. I’m assuming here that the consultation was a statutory box to tick, and that the decision had in practice been taken, and budgets set, rather than that the council joyously and deliberately going against the consultation results.

Whatever the background, how can we expect people to trust big processes like neighbourhood planning when they can’t trust small ones like this? Here, for posterity, are the words of the councillor unfortunate enough to have to defend the decision to go ahead:

It is very clear that many do not like our proposals to close these two schools and create a new primary in their place. However, while people raised very legitimate concerns and I can understand those concerns, I still believe these important plans are the right way forward for these schools and the pupils who attend them.

I hope that responses went to a freepost address, it would be a shame for people to have wasted the price of a stamp.

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German finance minister talks of EU-wide elected president

Eurozone map in 2009 Category:Maps of the Eurozone

Zone of sorrows. Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday’s edition of Le Monde had an interview with Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, on the future of the Eurozone, which suggested (not for the first time) that there might be some big proposals to come from the Germans on further European integration – and, hearteningly, building greater democratic legitimacy. Here are a few bits from the interview, in my probably inadequate translation:

Monde: Do you think that the economic crisis in Europe will result in political progress?

WS: Yes, crises are opportunities.

Monde: Even this one?

WS: Yes, we have the chance for Europe to carry on moving forward. It’s our great mission. … The EU has always moved forward step by step, often starting with economic integration. Political structures have lagged behind because [changes] always require the support of the sovereign people in the member states. We now know that “single currency plus stability pact” isn’t enough. We have to build political structures that will make fiscal policies converge. … We have to change the treaties, this is the road we have to go down if we are to show the investors of the world that the Euro [will last].

Monde: Is Germany preparing for a division of the Eurozone?

WS: Absolutely not. We rather want to create the mechanisms that will keep it stable, and … to give more powers to the EU or the Eurozone to bring that about.

Monde: A new treaty?

WS: No, but limited modifications to the current one.

Monde: What are you hoping for from your party congress on Monday?

WS: People often say that I’m the last pro-European in the CDU [Merkel's party]. That’s completely untrue. Look at the questions we’re debating in the congress tomorrow – for example the election of the EU Commission president by universal suffrage. That would be a real revolution, it would give us a true European government. I don’t think it will happen quickly, but the discussion is underway. If we elect a president of the Commission through a Europe-wide electoral campaign, then Europe after the elections will never be the same again.

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Finding all of the interesting data within one local authority area

This new project from Paul Evans looks good:

I’ve never seen anyone try to pull together a good index of all of the relevant and interesting data that is available within one local authority area with the aim of giving school pupils something to work with, so over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing exactly that.

It’s something that clearly has a wider resonance, two CityCamp Brighton projects (LearnLocalFirst and DataBridge) touched on similar areas.

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Competing democracies

So, if the Greek parliament votes to sack George Papandreou and thereby cancels plans for Greece to hold a risk-laden referendum, is that democracy?

Is it democratic to use referendums as a tool of political advantage (as they often are used)?

Is it democratic to cancel plans for a referendum by a vote in the elected parliament?

Referendums are more usually the tool of the powerful (who hold them as and when they feel the need, and influence them through the media) rather than of the people. I don’t think there’s a problem with Parliament overturning a PM who’s suggested a referendum if it thinks that’s where the national interest lies (as main opposition Nea Dimokratia clearly do).

Greece, though,

The Hellenic Parliament building in Athens.

House of the People? Image via Wikipedia

is in an extraordinary situation, and whether the referendum goes ahead or not (and my guess is “not”), it has shown again that as soon as the immediate crisis is past, we have to start planning for a proper democratic settlement for the Eurozone or (ideally) the EU.

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