The EU's governance is a mix of Kafkaesque bureaucracy and a structure that resembles modern art. Europe is stuck between detached bureaucrats and incompetent populists. It's time to fix it — by electing One President, accountable to you.
Take the first step →Power is spread so thin among the Commission and the Council that no one is actually accountable to citizens. The senior positions are decided behind closed doors — before elections — and you are not part of that process.
The European Parliament — the one thing you do vote for — is one of the few parliaments in the world unable to propose new laws. No wonder so few people bother to vote.
European bureaucrats accountable to national bureaucrats. No feedback loop. No democracy.
Elect the European President directly. Merge the 3 Presidencies into 1. Saves money, saves time, is even better for the environment. Someone recognisable, elected, accountable to 500 million citizens.
Clear, transparent, simple. It would transform Europe from a bureaucracy to a democracy overnight. Revolutionary for Europe — yet standard among democracies.
It's about your right to decide your own future.
You are Europe.
The European Union has delivered peace and prosperity. But it has been unable — perhaps unwilling — to engage with its citizens. Every problem is blamed on the EU while national governments point fingers at Brussels. Doing the right thing without buy-in from your constituency will always fail.
Europe has a unique legacy — from Leonardo da Vinci to Marie Curie, from Copernicus to Beethoven. Human rights, freedom of expression, the right to choose our own way of life: all European achievements. Europe has brought peace. It now needs democracy.
Nation states cannot compete alone in a world where China, Russia and America dictate global affairs. Europe is inadequate because it is divided. A single elected President would have the political calibre to initiate a true European foreign policy, defend shared values, and give 500 million citizens a voice.
Clemente Cappello at TEDxConstanta
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The Brussels elite may be competent but seems at ease only in Davos. Populists engage voters but can't deliver. There's a third way.
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