Thursday, May 09, 2013

Half hidden agenda

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in another of his Big Think speeches about the future of the EU --

One of Europe's most important and respected philosophers, Jürgen Habermas, recently referred to our Blueprint as "the first more detailed document in which the European Union develops a perspective for reforms in the medium and long term that go beyond the present".

Relevant section of the address by Habermas --

The Commission, the Presidency of the Council, and the European Central Bank — known in Brussels parlance as “the institutions” - are least subject to legitimation pressures because of their relative distance from the national public spheres. So it was up them to present in December 2012 the first more detailed document in which the European Union develops a perspective for reforms in the medium and long term that go beyond the present, more or less dilatory reactions to critical symptoms.

Which is a little less of an endorsement of the document in general and the Commission in particular than Barroso implies. Habermas goes on to discuss how the only logical solution to the EU's problems is a political union, which will be reached by German-led treaty changes. Somehow that part wasn't in Barroso's speech.