A new EU team for perhaps a more democratic EU?

Birds are flying creatures and could be forgiven for missing the fine points of human activities. I propose to help. The Lisbon Treaty ratification was a scandalous affair. A tale of lies (the political kind), yes-bullying (of electorates who “don't get it”) and self-congratulations (only the leadership who knows best is celebrating its Lisbon “victory”). “We the Sovereign Peoples” were promised more democracy and transparency. What we got was less of both. The learned bird may have overlooked the undeniable fact that the appointment of the new EU team was conducted in a public-free zone after much backdoor deals and horsetrading. Such a system cannot possibly lead to more democracy and is reminiscent of Soviet Politburo appointments. Even the leftist newspaper The Guardian had nothing positive to say about the process! . Could the new pair make Europe a better place? Why should they? The system works for them. The President credited for some fine haiku poetry and saving Belgium from political implosion, wants more Europe. The European “Federalist” kind with more powers in the hands of an unaccountable bureaucracy supported by a parliament - the traveling one - short on popular legitimacy (43% turnout rate in the last EU elections). The rise to the post of High Representative (novlangue for foreign minister) of a British non-elected peer with no experience in foreign affairs is baffling. She has obviously been appointed by the powerful member states because she is a women (the feminine touch thing) and lacks what it takes to impose a vision. We will call “it” charisma and a sense of accountability to the voters. Given that she owes her career to the Labour “quangocracy” (unelected party bureaucracy system), she had in fact the perfect CV! So we, human citizens, should be forgiven for thinking that competence and a free mind were not the key criterion for the job. It will be interesting to see how her “charm” - the default word used for lack of anything else to say - will help shape something resembling a common foreign and security policy. The Russian leadership must be under the spell... . But hey, let us not make a storm in a cup of tea. The “Kissinger phone question” has been answered. A small step for the EU and a big laugh for the rest of the world! Less funny of course is the claim by the Honourable Bird that democracy in Europe could be enhanced with a bunch of people who in their youth fought against democratic capitalism and for the imposition on land of the Marxist utopia. I relate to the point that fighting the Greek dictatorship was a courageous act (Greek commissioner mominee) but fail to see how freedom could be enhanced with a gradual push for a dictatorship of the proletariat. The collectivist experiment was tried in the Soviet Union with devastating consequences (gulags, show trials, famines, executions, psychiatric internment). Many so called socialist democracies (Cuba springs to mind) continue to enlighten their proletariat with chronic toilet paper shortages, free tutotials in Marxist-Leninist ideology in prisons for “other thinkers”..... I draw two conclusions. Flight permission over Communist China (Uygur province) must be denied to inquisitive birds (unless it is a case of selective flying memory), and winged creatures do not read history books - but curiously can write. . In truth, the European Union has chosen another road; a new kind of “dictatorship” of the elite and call it some fancy names to confuse the unsuspecting humans. And, unlike birds, human elites know a lot about public finance. They have also learnt some lessons from the mistakes made by communist elites. You just don't kill the goose (democratic capitalism) that laid the golden egg but slowly stuff it with more nonsense (the fois gras technique). You call the EU fudge a multi-layered polity, a social democracy based on post-modern governance and functionalist spill-overs... So yes, confused French tax payers may be spared the insult of another record breaking EU hyperpresidency (€ 171 million) but make no mistake, any savings will be heading towards Brussels for more scandalous use of public funds with less accountability. “Our” new President favours direct taxation and he might well get it. The self-amending treaty does not need the pretense of our “say”. But one should not blame a bird for oversights. A flying creature cannot possibly grasp the significance of the continued refusal by the Court of Auditors to sign off the Union's accounts. . A more observant bird flying over Brussels might have nevertheless spotted that the recession affecting ordinary European humans has had no impact on EU expenditures. The obscenely high salaries of our newly anointed self-serving vanguard knows no crisis (cuts). Would it not be a fine thing for a former Marxist activist (the Labour Baroness) to show some solidarity with the toiling masses and propose a serious reduction of her own salary? Birds may be incurable utopians but on land, humans are considering civil disobedience to stop the stuffing!