If you are so much rooted in reality, then I guess you know the level of bad debt Iceland banks had accumulated, before the government took measures that would have been forbidden by EU treaties.
Sure current Iceland current situation is far from being perfect, but it is much better than Greece that followed all the rules (but it changes now).
I know that very well. But being outside still has less rules than being inside, especially on economic rules like debt. And I am not sure to have any real influence gain by being inside (referendum are ignored...).
Could Iceland have saved its ass from 2008 crisis if it had been inside the eurozone? I am convinced membership would have been a liability more than an asset.
But let us see if the Greek government can prove me wrong.
And I debunked that particular side argument readily with facts by listing things in which Parliament factually gained powers. Which means that your admission remains the admission of increase of democratization.
Thank you for explaining my own words to me, you seem to know what I think better than I do.
Indeed I agreed the Lisbon treaty moved more subjects to the codecision procedure. But the MEP I vote for still cannot initiate change in EU policies. Even if the EU parliament could convince the EU commission to do initiate a directive, there are many subjects that are carved into treaties and cannot be changed.
Calling such a system democratic is a joke. In 2005, after the referendum in France and Netherlands, I believed EU could get more democratic. Ten years later, we had the referendum-rejected treaty that has been adopted without a referendum as the Lisbon treaty, and the TSCG that added even more economic rules that are not subject to democratic discussion. I do not believe anymore EU could turn into something I would consider positive. I think my own country would be better quitting EU.
First paragraph.
Quoting myself: "I said we Submit more subjects to EU parliament, but it remains powerless "
But we just came to an agreement that it did indeed improve on democratic front. You yourself admitted to it!
When did I say that? I said we Submit more subjects to EU parliament, but it remains powerless (it only real power is to reject). Having a veto power through representants is poor democracy.
P.S. Do note that after that study we had an election to European Parliament and while there was a wide Eurosceptic offering in all member states, they got only a small minority in parliament, whereas more mainstream pro-EU movement got an overwhelming majority.
Because eurosceptics mostly abstain.
Then basically what you have is a chicken or egg problem. No powers to EU until it's even more democratic. And EU will stay powerful and less democratic as a result with no real motivation to democratize because they will never be democratic enough for naysayers.
We have been transferring a lot of subjects from member states to EU, and it never improved on the democratic front. I had been in favor of EU ten years ago, but now I would say I just learned from the experience: EU construction had just being about removing subjects from the democratic field and I oppose that
I suspect that your point of view is "common" mainly in UK, which is a notable outlier in EU when it comes to this issue.
It is not just UK. Like it or not, most EU member state citizen are now opposed to EU, as the Pew institute taught us.
On first point: I agreed the only power of the parliament was to reject a directive subject to codecision. That is thin.
On the second point, you misunderstand my point of view, which is surprising since it is quite common. I suspect you just do not want to understand alternative point of view on EU, but I will retry anyway.
I support democracy. Each treaty moves subjects from member state to EU, but there is still less democracy in EU institutions than in member states. At least member state MP can propose laws, something MEP still cannot do.. In my opinion, all moves we did to build EU have been regression of democracy.
In a nutshell, I refuse giving more powers to EU before it get democratic.
If you want to put yourself on the map, publish your own map.
