From haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!mips!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu! uunet!mcsun!sunic!dkuug!daimi!simonl Mon Aug 3 01:18:53 EDT 1992 Article: 10988 of soc.culture.europe Path: wam.umd.edu!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net! mips!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!sunic!dkuug!daimi!simonl From: simonl@daimi.aau.dk (Simon Laub) Newsgroups: soc.culture.europe Subject: Greece says no to democracy and yes to maastricht Keywords: maastricht , Greece ratifies , democratic deficit Message-ID: <1992Aug1.175958.7472@daimi.aau.dk> Date: 1 Aug 92 17:59:58 GMT Sender: simonl@daimi.aau.dk (Simon Laub) Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark Lines: 54 Greece says no to democracy and yes to Maastricht. After a five days debate Greece has ratified the Maastricht-deal with an overwhelming majority. But as usual ( in Europe ) with no (or little) public debate. The consensus so great , that one gets the feeling , that Maastricht simply must be the deal of the century for Greece. Taking a closer look , it will be obvious , that Greece will not be able to fulfill the requirements for the economic union in the coming 5 - 10 years. This alone should have made someone in Greece sceptical - but apparently not so. Likewise no critical voices on the democratic deficit in EC- institutions and no one worried about Greece having its industry bought up or bullied out in the context of the internal market - Leaving Greece with only a tourist industry. I find it alarming , that such major legislation can pass through without opposition. And its certainly not a promising sign for democracy (Govt. with and through the people) in the future Europe. Some of us would like to see a european union being build on strong and free people. Instead another image is emerging, that of a continent of rulers and ruled , that of centralism and weakened democratic institutions. Thomas Jefferson advocated around 1790 , that to uphold democracy a little rebellion was needed once in a while . Thomas Jefferson had faith in ordinary people and what they could accomplish. People like Lewis and Clark , who explored the west ,was among his heroes - he detested regal tendencies. And oh boy --- 200 years later Europe can still learn from him. If not it will be the third disaster of the century. A disaster nobody apparently wants to avoid. And if you do , then you should seek political asylum in the US. Europeans are suffering from the incurable disease of putting political systems and statutory instruments ahead of ordinary people on the agenda . This is not only dangerous , but also dead wrong. Simon Laub.