The 3 reasons why EU politics (still) bore people to death
We make significant legislation that affects more than 500 million people directly in 28 countries.
We dictate almost everything on food, the environment, bank legislation, civil rights and we are slowly but surely we are moving into tax legislation, net neutrality, artificial intelligence, data protection and many more areas that are vital to people’s lives. With external trade agreements, fishery and agriculture policies, we influence all the people that are directly or indirectly connected to the European Market.
No one seems to care what we do in Brussels. When Donald Tusk (aka the president of the European Council) speaks on EU’s behalf, the German government formation crisis overshadows it.
I am a passionate federalist of the European Union. I have worked in the European Parliament for more than three years, worked, and studied European Politics for more than ten years.
I never understood why the light of the eyes of my friends that do not work on EU affairs die slowly the more I talk about my work.
Substantial experience and qualitative research have shown me why no one seems to care what we do:
Anonymity
There is no one voice, and no one owns the project:
Commission president Juncker does not have the authority to speak on behalf of the whole of EU, neither do Frederica Mogherini, Antonio Tajani nor Donald Tusk. On top of this Merkel, Macron and their colleagues from the EU Member States make the whole picture more blurry on who speak on EU’s behalf.
We send our young unknown politicians and our old famous but end-of-career politicians to the directly elected parliament. It does not mean that the politicians are not talented. But the result is that they do not have national platforms from which to speak.
There is no one voice, and no one owns the project: Commission president Juncker does not have the authority to speak on behalf of the whole of EU, neither do Frederica Mogherini, Antonio Tajani nor Donald Tusk. On top of this Merkel, Macron and their colleagues from the EU Member States make the whole picture more blurry on who speak on EU’s behalf.
Easy scapegoat
Everyone blames the EU for lousy decision-making:
All governments of EU member states tend to accuse “the EU” of legislation they do not like — even though they are part of the legislative process themselves. Hence, EU becomes the big, bureaucratic, grey monster that mostly seems to do bad things in the eyes of the public.
National politicians take credit for the EU legislation they like. A member state minister way too often says, “I made this happen in the EU. I was successful in my negotiations — now we have free roaming across EU countries”. And the EU gets none of the deserved credit.
No media attention
We enjoy freedom from media:
No journalists care about European politics except for the EU bubble media. Only the dedicated Brussels people read these media. In Brussels, we often blame the press for not caring about our work here. But actually, we benefit from their absence since we can make real politics without journalists asking questions. But in the end, it’s terrible for citizens that there is no real press presence — except for stories on how politicians spend their allowances. The image becomes skewed and untoward for citizens and the EU.
Further, no one knows — unless they work in the system and have their sources — if it was the German government, the Balkan states or the Health Committee in Parliament that blocked a particular policy proposal — or pushed it.
From the EU side, we are not good enough to communicate in an understandable language what happens here. Internal power struggles overrule communication: The Parliament blames the Commission for whatever, the Council of Ministers undermines the Parliament and the Commission plays the underdog and wait for all the other institutions and agencies to act.
I believe we can change the image.
Here we all have a role to play.
I need to speak with my friends about what I do so that they understand the politics rather than the political processes.
We must stop blaming the other institutions — my colleagues there do their job just like I do mine though we can probably all improve.
We must give negotiations in Brussels credit for the real progress we make on equality, climate, food legislation, data protection, etc. It also goes for when we would like for things to move faster. Democracy is never perfect.
It is “the worst form of government, except for all the others”
as famously put by Churchill.
National media can easily report more on legislation here. As a first thing they can contact the people working here -
