Is the European Union damaging to democratic rights?

Publication date: 
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Author: 
John Hilary (executive director of War on Want, an international anti-poverty charity and supporter of ALTER-EU)
Media title: 
New Internationalist

 

"It would be great [..] if the EU acted as a force of resistance to corporate power in the global economy. Yet the reality is that the institutions of the EU have consistently sided with capital at the expense of workers’ rights, environmental standards and social cohesion."

 

Excerpt: 

"[W]e have seen the EU’s true colours with the formation of the shadowy Frankfurt Group. This cabal of just eight people have taken it upon themselves to dictate the future of our continent, without any reference to the peoples of Europe. Unelected and unaccountable, they represent the logical conclusion of the EU’s pro-business and anti-democratic tendency.

Whom should we trust? I would argue that there is only one sane choice, and that is to join the wave of popular resistance against those who would destroy our common future. Anything that takes power away from the peoples of Europe is a threat to democracy. The EU represents one of the gravest of these threats."

Link to original article: 
http://www.newint.org/sections/argument/2012/01/01/european-union-eu-democratic-deficit/