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talkpoliticsAt the first secret vote for chairperson of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen was nominated and approved. Her nomination was a surprise - initially, a number of famous names of prominent Euro bureaucrats were being circulated as possible successors to Jean Claude Juncker, but then vd Leyen suddenly sprang up as a "compromise" option.
The whole thing happened after the Euro bureaucrats quietly changed the procedure at the end of Juncker's term. This allowed them to hand-pick their next boss at a secret vote, the idea being that they could now break party discipline by recruiting every EMP separately to the cause, and convince them to vote in favor of the nominee preferred by the powers that be. It's no surprise, then, that the whole idea was promoted by the dominant ENP, as well as the German socialists and the Greens.
The new chairperson being a chairlady was something that was widely discussed and promoted as an important priority for the new EU administration - in fact it was decided that the new boss should be a woman, long before it was known which woman it should be. Once she was hand-picked, she promised that at least half of the new EU commissioners would be women. That was a neat trick meant to conceal the otherwise predictable lack of political diversity in the future "EU cabinet", and the absence of representation of the various public interests that exist in Europe. As if by making a superficial cosmetic change in the cabinet, the EU would somehow conceal the fact that they'll actually be offering the people the same old stuff.
If there were folks getting overly concerned that the liberal status quo was about to be shaken up in the new Euro parliament, what with all the populist rebellion across Europe, they should sleep calmly now. Unlike the US and UK, the EU is taking no risks. The new European Commission is actually going to be a further entrenchment of the previous status quo, and tightening the measures against possible change.
Von der Leyen's selection and the planned appointment of Christine Lagarde as governor of the European Central Bank are clear signs of the shape that's being planned for post-nation-state Europe. Instead of some new sort of utopia, it'll be looking more like Europe before the nation states. A European order with only states but no nations, with institutions rather than civic societies, and with legitimacy through procedure rather than democratic legitimacy. The high government positions are being distributed as per the background and upbrinding, and the cosmopolitan neo-aristocracy that's qualified to take them is feeling above and beyond the nations as much as above and beyond the law.
It's important to note vd Leyen's cosmopolitan background. That's actually her main feature, and evidently the main requirement for her getting selected. See, she was born in Brussels, then moved to the US, but she's German of origin and citizenship. And though she's completely unfamiliar to most European constituents, she's actually very well known around the global economic and geopolitical forums. As Politico notes, the Davos forum (where she's member of the board), the Bilderberg group, the Munich conference of securty, all of those are places where she feels at home. Undoubtedly, these are important contacts for any politician. But given the above mentioned discrepancy between her popularity among the people she's going to rule, and the global forums where the select few take decisions about the fates of millions, there's good reason to wonder, whose representative she's actually going to be: will she be representing Us The People at Davos, or the other way around?
Some background now. Ursula von der Leyen, mother of 7, is a ginecologist by education. She has no qualifications in European law or economics. Now, this fact would've probably seemed like nitpicking if it were about a democratically elected politician, or a political appointment. But given the EU's doctrine that makes the European Commission a mostly technocratic, bureaucratic, expert institution (not like the national governments, and for a good reason), it's not entirely unfair to expect at least some appropriate professional qualification from its members, right? But no, the lack of such education and experience might have hung like a burden above anyone else but Angela Merkel's protege. She seems to be an exception that's immune to these common-sense requirements - just because.
On the other hand, her education in ginecology is very high, even crowned with a PhD from 1991. Except, in 2015 VroniPlag, a German platform for investigating plagiarism, cried fould about vd Leyen's PhD thesis, revealing that entire pages of it had been ganked from elsewhere.
Let me just remind that similar plagiarism scandals had recently cost the posts of two German ministers, Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, and Annette Schavan. Furthermore, the professor from the Humboldt University, Gerhard Danemann who works with VroniPlag, said that vd Leyen's case is much more egregious than Schavan's. Of course, she denied these allegations and requested an investigation by the Hannover University (where her PhD is). A few months later, the commission came up with the conclusion that indeed, there was some "foreign material" in her thesis, but it's not plagiarism, rather citation neglect. Well, one of the commission member had signed with a different opinion, but what matters now is that all is past and gone, and forgotten. Almost.
If none of this is enough to convince us exactly how untouchable vd Leyen is, let's look at more recent events, like her work as Germany's minister of defense. By the words of former minister of defense in Kohl's government Rupert Scholz (a member of her own party!), the Bundeswehr (the German military) is in a catastrophic state. Hans Peter Bartels, an MP from the oversight committee of the Bundestag (the German parliament) concluded in his report that there's not enough staff and equipment, and shortages chronically pile on top of each other. It would seem that the military's preparedness was not top priority for vd Leyen, she was rather concerned with patriotism within it. Which is why she did her best to uproot it through a number of initiatives, including the renaming of German barracks that dared to bear the names of WW2 legends - as well as issuing ideological documents instructing the troops about what they were allowed to be proud of.
The support for Ursula and her promotion to the topmost position in the EU shows Merkel's positive regard of her work. And if the main task of the former minister of defense was to keep the military unprepared and demoralized, indeed, she did a tremendous job, and she should be rewarded.
And if all of this just sounds like a minor nuisance, albeit not entirely surprising, what follows is outright absurd. There's an ongoing corruption investigation in the Bundestag involving the ministry of defense, the scope of which would make most Eastern European politicians (ergo, corrupt by default) green with envy. In 2014, vd Leyen appointed one Katrin Suder secretary of armament. She was a successful businesslady wh ohad worked for 14 years at McKinsey, a US consultant company. In 2015 and 2016, McKinsey suddenly got some sweet contracts from the German ministry of defense, worth a total of a quarter of a billion euro, while the ministry had only declared an expense of 5 million for consultants. McKinsey itself is quite a large and influential company, covered with corruption scandals and ensnared in a network of links to authoritarian regimes, as The Independent points out in a very intriguing report.
The other consultant firm whose business thrived during vd Leyen's term was Accenture, whose CEO had one of her ministry's top aides as his best-man, and godfather to his chilren. Between 2014 and 2018, Accenture enjoyed a sudden upsurge of its revenue from government commissions, from half a million to 20 million euro annually. The whole scandal broke out thanks to leaked documents from the German federal audit. These show that the "consultants" gained enormous influence within the ministry of defense during vd Leyen's term there, to the point where they could actively manipulate the procedures for granting public commissions.
I suppose I needn't say that a s corruption scandal of this scope would've instantaneously triggered a penal procedure by the European Commission if it had happened somewhere in Eastern Europe. But in the case with Merkel's protege, it has led to her appointment as the EU's top politician instead.
The conclusion is that whatever is allowed to the European neo-aristocracy, is unthinkable for its subjects (or as they're called, the EU citizens), and to the EU's vassals (the countries of Eastern and Central Europe). Their vassal status was confirmed by the fact that they were nowhere near getting any of the really important positions in the European Commission, and they had to settle for crumbs yet again. To make things even more convincing, one of the main requirements for selecting the new Dear Chairlady was that she should promise to be firm towards "rogue mavericks" like those among the "second class" countries and citizens who for some reason would dare to raise a voice against this status quo.
That's the EU legitimacy in the 21st century for ya. Corruption is only corruption when it's done by illegitimate subjects who've been assigned second-class status; and justice and rights are only rights and justice when it's being exercised by the God-anointed elites who are calling the shots and running the show.
And then you wonder how come crazy-ass extremists are taking over the whole political discourse, and now encroaching upon this utopian pseudo-democratic Euro paradise of ours.
The whole thing happened after the Euro bureaucrats quietly changed the procedure at the end of Juncker's term. This allowed them to hand-pick their next boss at a secret vote, the idea being that they could now break party discipline by recruiting every EMP separately to the cause, and convince them to vote in favor of the nominee preferred by the powers that be. It's no surprise, then, that the whole idea was promoted by the dominant ENP, as well as the German socialists and the Greens.
The new chairperson being a chairlady was something that was widely discussed and promoted as an important priority for the new EU administration - in fact it was decided that the new boss should be a woman, long before it was known which woman it should be. Once she was hand-picked, she promised that at least half of the new EU commissioners would be women. That was a neat trick meant to conceal the otherwise predictable lack of political diversity in the future "EU cabinet", and the absence of representation of the various public interests that exist in Europe. As if by making a superficial cosmetic change in the cabinet, the EU would somehow conceal the fact that they'll actually be offering the people the same old stuff.
If there were folks getting overly concerned that the liberal status quo was about to be shaken up in the new Euro parliament, what with all the populist rebellion across Europe, they should sleep calmly now. Unlike the US and UK, the EU is taking no risks. The new European Commission is actually going to be a further entrenchment of the previous status quo, and tightening the measures against possible change.
Von der Leyen's selection and the planned appointment of Christine Lagarde as governor of the European Central Bank are clear signs of the shape that's being planned for post-nation-state Europe. Instead of some new sort of utopia, it'll be looking more like Europe before the nation states. A European order with only states but no nations, with institutions rather than civic societies, and with legitimacy through procedure rather than democratic legitimacy. The high government positions are being distributed as per the background and upbrinding, and the cosmopolitan neo-aristocracy that's qualified to take them is feeling above and beyond the nations as much as above and beyond the law.
It's important to note vd Leyen's cosmopolitan background. That's actually her main feature, and evidently the main requirement for her getting selected. See, she was born in Brussels, then moved to the US, but she's German of origin and citizenship. And though she's completely unfamiliar to most European constituents, she's actually very well known around the global economic and geopolitical forums. As Politico notes, the Davos forum (where she's member of the board), the Bilderberg group, the Munich conference of securty, all of those are places where she feels at home. Undoubtedly, these are important contacts for any politician. But given the above mentioned discrepancy between her popularity among the people she's going to rule, and the global forums where the select few take decisions about the fates of millions, there's good reason to wonder, whose representative she's actually going to be: will she be representing Us The People at Davos, or the other way around?
Some background now. Ursula von der Leyen, mother of 7, is a ginecologist by education. She has no qualifications in European law or economics. Now, this fact would've probably seemed like nitpicking if it were about a democratically elected politician, or a political appointment. But given the EU's doctrine that makes the European Commission a mostly technocratic, bureaucratic, expert institution (not like the national governments, and for a good reason), it's not entirely unfair to expect at least some appropriate professional qualification from its members, right? But no, the lack of such education and experience might have hung like a burden above anyone else but Angela Merkel's protege. She seems to be an exception that's immune to these common-sense requirements - just because.
On the other hand, her education in ginecology is very high, even crowned with a PhD from 1991. Except, in 2015 VroniPlag, a German platform for investigating plagiarism, cried fould about vd Leyen's PhD thesis, revealing that entire pages of it had been ganked from elsewhere.
Let me just remind that similar plagiarism scandals had recently cost the posts of two German ministers, Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, and Annette Schavan. Furthermore, the professor from the Humboldt University, Gerhard Danemann who works with VroniPlag, said that vd Leyen's case is much more egregious than Schavan's. Of course, she denied these allegations and requested an investigation by the Hannover University (where her PhD is). A few months later, the commission came up with the conclusion that indeed, there was some "foreign material" in her thesis, but it's not plagiarism, rather citation neglect. Well, one of the commission member had signed with a different opinion, but what matters now is that all is past and gone, and forgotten. Almost.
If none of this is enough to convince us exactly how untouchable vd Leyen is, let's look at more recent events, like her work as Germany's minister of defense. By the words of former minister of defense in Kohl's government Rupert Scholz (a member of her own party!), the Bundeswehr (the German military) is in a catastrophic state. Hans Peter Bartels, an MP from the oversight committee of the Bundestag (the German parliament) concluded in his report that there's not enough staff and equipment, and shortages chronically pile on top of each other. It would seem that the military's preparedness was not top priority for vd Leyen, she was rather concerned with patriotism within it. Which is why she did her best to uproot it through a number of initiatives, including the renaming of German barracks that dared to bear the names of WW2 legends - as well as issuing ideological documents instructing the troops about what they were allowed to be proud of.
The support for Ursula and her promotion to the topmost position in the EU shows Merkel's positive regard of her work. And if the main task of the former minister of defense was to keep the military unprepared and demoralized, indeed, she did a tremendous job, and she should be rewarded.
And if all of this just sounds like a minor nuisance, albeit not entirely surprising, what follows is outright absurd. There's an ongoing corruption investigation in the Bundestag involving the ministry of defense, the scope of which would make most Eastern European politicians (ergo, corrupt by default) green with envy. In 2014, vd Leyen appointed one Katrin Suder secretary of armament. She was a successful businesslady wh ohad worked for 14 years at McKinsey, a US consultant company. In 2015 and 2016, McKinsey suddenly got some sweet contracts from the German ministry of defense, worth a total of a quarter of a billion euro, while the ministry had only declared an expense of 5 million for consultants. McKinsey itself is quite a large and influential company, covered with corruption scandals and ensnared in a network of links to authoritarian regimes, as The Independent points out in a very intriguing report.
The other consultant firm whose business thrived during vd Leyen's term was Accenture, whose CEO had one of her ministry's top aides as his best-man, and godfather to his chilren. Between 2014 and 2018, Accenture enjoyed a sudden upsurge of its revenue from government commissions, from half a million to 20 million euro annually. The whole scandal broke out thanks to leaked documents from the German federal audit. These show that the "consultants" gained enormous influence within the ministry of defense during vd Leyen's term there, to the point where they could actively manipulate the procedures for granting public commissions.
I suppose I needn't say that a s corruption scandal of this scope would've instantaneously triggered a penal procedure by the European Commission if it had happened somewhere in Eastern Europe. But in the case with Merkel's protege, it has led to her appointment as the EU's top politician instead.
The conclusion is that whatever is allowed to the European neo-aristocracy, is unthinkable for its subjects (or as they're called, the EU citizens), and to the EU's vassals (the countries of Eastern and Central Europe). Their vassal status was confirmed by the fact that they were nowhere near getting any of the really important positions in the European Commission, and they had to settle for crumbs yet again. To make things even more convincing, one of the main requirements for selecting the new Dear Chairlady was that she should promise to be firm towards "rogue mavericks" like those among the "second class" countries and citizens who for some reason would dare to raise a voice against this status quo.
That's the EU legitimacy in the 21st century for ya. Corruption is only corruption when it's done by illegitimate subjects who've been assigned second-class status; and justice and rights are only rights and justice when it's being exercised by the God-anointed elites who are calling the shots and running the show.
And then you wonder how come crazy-ass extremists are taking over the whole political discourse, and now encroaching upon this utopian pseudo-democratic Euro paradise of ours.
(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 11:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 11:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 11:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 11:55 (UTC)One could still run as independent, if they collect enough signatures, and they could even get elected EMP if they get enough support from the voters.
(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:00 (UTC)Beyond the technicalities, the political elite does its best to preserve its status. No one would let go of the pie without a fight, as has been made evident by the OP.
(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:02 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:05 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:09 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:04 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:08 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 12:08 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 15:38 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 19:08 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 21:59 (UTC)I don’t trust any of them. I look for evidence knowing they are all lying bastards. And then I use Occam’s razor to shave the hair off my prejudices. Mostly. :)
I recommend it as an approach.
(no subject)
Date: 31/7/19 06:34 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 20:08 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/7/19 15:35 (UTC)So it seems that Europe needs reform. Yep, got to agree with that. Is it better than the alternative? Depends on the alternative.
How to get the EU to reform is another matter. I guess a hard Brexit may help there. It may be the only way to get the UK to reform too. It really is beginning to look like the best option for forcing change; but at what cost? The petty corruption of the EU isn't a wrong crying to heaven for redress, like slavery; one that needs all of our moral strength and resources to fight against. Petty procedural corruption has to be fought with due process too. I wasn't aware that U Von Den Leyen had plagiarised part of her PhD. thesis, but the rest of it seems like a pretty minor jobs-for-the-boys (but in this case the girls) appointment scandal of a minor kind. I'm not saying it isn't wrong on many levels, but I'm looking at Europe or Trump's United States as blocks to be aligned with as a comparison; and a billionaire who wanted in on the nuclear industry sort of makes up my mind as to the lesser of the two evils:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/29/tom-barrack-saudi-arabia-nuclear-deal-envoy
I know it seems a pointless tu quoque in some respects; but if the question is degrees of institutional corruption where do we rank the major players: the EU, the US, Russia, or China? Or the next rank: Brazil, India etc?
I think the aim of the debate has to be about how to reform the EU. And how to do it reasonably quickly. If it reforms it could still be a great force for good.