If the budget was voted on by referenda, people would vote to increase expenditure on the things they favour and to reduce the taxes they pay. This would result in a huge and increasing deficit, which would be impossible to deal with. That is exactly what happened in the State of California, where voters always vote for impossibly irreconcilable measures and the state is on the edge of bankruptcy. Does anybody really imagine voters are likely to vote for high enough taxes to meet the expenditure they wish for? You're dreaming!
Indeed, the people of countries which get into economic difficulties have even more reason to be grateful than most. Whenever a country has problems they have the rest of the union to help them along. Not just good advice, but loans and bail-outs, development funds, and a stable currency. Without this, problems would be vastly greater - look at what happened to so many countries in the 1920s and 1930s when each one stood alone (or went broke alone).
Personally, I dont want to vote on everything. I just want people I trust, who have the country and its citizens at heart, making decisions based on long term health and wealh of all of us alas what we have are elected *ahem* politicians who do what is best for them in the short term. How do you fix that? No idea, well a few....
Compared to what? The total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the whole 27-nation EU is around €12,000,000,000,000 (12 million million) per year. National governments typically account for 40% to 50% of GDP in each country, but the EU has a ceiling of 1% of GDP, which is thus €120,000,000,000 (120 thousand million) per year. Of that, 94% goes straight back to all member states as various kinds of infrastructure investment, grants, subsidies, development funds, etc. The remaining 6% (i.e. 0.06% of GDP) cover the whole cost of administration, including the parliament, the council of ministers, the commission, the presidency, the court, the auditors, and the officials to deal with an EU of 450 million people. This works out at about €15 per citizen per year. That is what I meant by 'amazing economy'. The figures you give seem wholly unconnected to reality. Where did they come from and what are they supposed to mean, please?
Things like the budget are not voted on by referenda in Switzerland. I don't think that tax levels are either. But all sorts of other policy decisions are. One of the most recent was voting on how much holiday we should have. There was a motion to increase it from 4 weeks legally imposed to 6. The idea was rejected by the people. The Swiss have a long history of direct intervention in policy decisions and generally use it wisely (although the Swiss Germans - the great majority - do have a tradition of voting in the opposite way to the French speakers). There would definitely have been referenda on things like fox hunting or the aborted plans for selling off the forests, had those been mooted in Switzerland. There was one not long ago on whether it should be illegal to export arms (sadly rejected). My vote has disappeared in the UK (for one reason or another) but I value my Swiss vote a lot more. I use it several times a year, instead of once every 5 years to vote for some person I don't know and trust less.
I would suggest it was membership of the EU that created the mess for these countries in the first place. And now rather than resolving their own problems through devaluation they are being forced to take out loans from the EU that will imp(o)verish them for decades.
In the near distant past, as my alter ego I worked in Brussels. A lively, entertaining and pretty city (in parts). My weekly stay was in a rental apartment block which had cable (ISDN?) broadband. I was amazed at the number of laptops I could browse during an evening in. Security of data did not seem too high on the agenda of the bureacats who stayed in the same block. it was mainly financial data, but some intersting reports to read and factions could be recognised realatively easily. I feel that many of the posters on this forum would be suitable candidates for formal positions with the governmental departments there, though a fair few not also. Nato is based there, and from my time there it is no wonder that factions have appeared within europe. Belgian politics leaves a lot to be desired, with language being the main frontline politic piece (french speakers v dutch speakers) and as far as I am aware there has been NO goverment in Belgium for over 2 years now. Is this a shining light in european politics or a foretelling of things to come for the EU states? The EU parliament people do get a good deal in the City of Brussels, their passes allowing them subsidised drinks, food and entertainment in a number of places - and it was policed vigously to prevent the hoi poloi from gettting the deals too. Politics, EU or Uk IS a gravy train for many. They choose the career knowing the benefits that can be had in many countries. The problem may be that these very people are the one who prevent sensible decisions being made. They prevent the normal person from entering the arena and repesenting the populations without having the polarised view of the many who are in poltics from breeding/schooling. On a more contraversial point, since WWII (the great patriotic war for many ex-soviet states) there has not been a major loss of young lives within the european continent. Has this contributed to the increased crime rates for violent crimes in the last few decades. There are more people around now who would have been dead/heroes in the war era?
So this is the reality of the EU outside of your ivory towers Pete. Think more Klondyke than Oxbridge :wink:
