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The EU - stick up yer Juncker!

Caporegime
Joined
22 Jun 2004
Posts
26,684
Location
Deep England
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28049375

Those who know my post history know I'm no fan of Cameron and the Tories, and moderately in favour of the EU, but this story has ground my gears somewhat. The mainstream political parties took a proper beating in last month's European Parliament elections - change is clearly necessary, yet 26 of 28 EU Heads of State decide that they must stick with Juncker, an establishment man if ever there was one, because he's the preferred candidate of the largest political coalition in Brussels.

It seems that a lot of these Heads of State don't actually want Juncker either, they think that he's not the right man for the job but won't actually do anything to change it. Furthermore they've indicated their support to Dave's position only to change their minds come voting time. To me, this all smacks of dastardly foreigners ganging up against honest Britain again (just like FIFA) lol and has made me quite cross. Cross enough to make me post my incoherent thoughts before pouring myself a stiff drink. You expect this from the French but not every other EU country. Fair play to Hungary who did at least support our position.

I dunno, I think if there was a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU tomorrow I'd vote to leave. I think Ed Milliband would do well to support Cameron on this rather than be critical, I'm sure Dave made some mistakes but the reasons for sticking with Juncker just seem nonsensical to me.
 
"Ganging up on honest Britain" Oh give me a break, since when has any politician been honest?

Honest Dave saw an opportunity for some point scoring to boost his domestic popularity and fell flat on his face. I'm personally loving it.
 
So the majority of the European parliament, who were recently voted in by European citizens, want Junker. What's the issue? Surely this is democracy in action?
 
I dont understand why Cameron is embarrassed he's standing up for his beliefs which actually mirror the recent elections whereas the others are on a different planet.
 
So the majority of the European parliament, who were recently voted in by European citizens, want Junker. What's the issue? Surely this is democracy in action?

Because according to the EU constitution it should be the Council of Ministers who decide who is the President of the European Commission, not the European Parliament.

The argument is that Juncker was the 'spitzenkandidat' and therefore should be rubber-stamped by The Council is bonkers - how many of us had heard of Jean-Claude Juncker when we voted in last month's elections?
 
The argument is that Juncker was the 'spitzenkandidat' and therefore should be rubber-stamped by The Council is bonkers - how many of us had heard of Jean-Claude Juncker when we voted in last month's elections?

Even if anyone had heard of him (90%+ hadn't), not one vote in the UK was cast for him because the EPP doesn't have a party in the UK.
 
Democracy is effectively a dictatorship anyway unless you agree with everything which is done on your behalf, the difference is unlike dictators they don't have unlimited power and are constrained by human rights laws. Plus, people are less likely to rebel under democracy as they believe that they can change things at the next election, even though all of the choices are basically the same. Every election things are worse than before, every election people believe that voting a particular party will improve matters, it never happens.
 
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Democracy is effectively a dictatorship anyway unless you agree with everything which is done on your behalf, the difference is unlike dictators they don't have unlimited power and are constrained by human rights laws. Plus, people are less likely to rebel under democracy as they believe that they can change things at the next election, even though all of the choices are basically the same. Every election things are worse than before, every election people believe that voting a particular party will improve matters, it never happens.

This
 
Democracy is effectively a dictatorship anyway unless you agree with everything which is done on your behalf, the difference is unlike dictators they don't have unlimited power and are constrained by human rights laws. Plus, people are less likely to rebel under democracy as they believe that they can change things at the next election, even though all of the choices are basically the same. Every election things are worse than before, every election people believe that voting a particular party will improve matters, it never happens.

Tin foil hat....
 
Nice slap in the face for Camermoron. I'm looking forward to the 2015 election.

A Labour govt in 2015 will probably be the beginning of the end ;) Will the last person to leave please turn out the lights...

I'd rather put a goldfish in charge of the country.

I don't think Milliband has a single idea in his head other than "we'll oppose everything the Tories want to do".
 
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