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Friday, March 9, 2018

Brexit will expose the EU’s democratic deficit

The EU has seemed stable in the face of Britain’s petulance. Yet across the continent, faith in its institutions is faltering I considered voting for Brexit. After the referendum was agreed, but before the campaigning had begun, I could have gone either way. My issue was democracy. I didn’t like the fact that the European parliament could not initiate legislation; that turnout for European parliamentary elections had fallen 30% since the first elections in 1979; the way countries that voted “the wrong way” on EU referendums were effectively instructed to vote again (Denmark 1992; Ireland 2001, 2008) and get it right; the fact that Greece’s resounding democratic rejection of the terms of its bailout (2015) was treated with such contempt. Related: Britain is still clueless about the EU’s motives in Brexit negotiations | Tom Kibasi Continue reading...


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