Sometimes it seems to me that human nature never changes. There are many who share the European dream, but those who, like me, want a Europe where states respect each other and sit around a table to thrash out their difficulties, are called names by those Brussels-bound elites who favour federation for reasons that are not difficult to define.

I have always maintained that a dream based on the destruction of the nation-state could hardly ever be called a vision for the future. Yes, the nation-state has been responsible for many atrocities, but it is based on the most natural of human impulses; the need to mix with those you consider your own, or think like you, or are prepared to abide by the same rules and regulations that, to the community, make sense out of life.

An EU that encourages people to get to understand each other, that destroys barriers instead of erecting them, that acts to the mutual advantage of the member states around the table, that takes the hostility out of nationalism and encourages co-operation rather than conflict and competition, that works harmoniously in the face of threats, is more than welcome. We all want to restrain those ugly traits that killed off millions of Europeans in two terrible wars.



The unelected nobodies

Many have often pointed out to an uninterested Maltese public the serious democratic deficits of the EU. This is why fewer and fewer citizens in Europe (in Malta the EU is still a tribal toy) are bothering to go and vote in EU parliamentary elections. The elevation of Catherine Ashton and Van Rompuy to the highest posts in the EU has now brought home with tremendous force the existing democratic deficit. It would have been possible, as a result of the horse-trading between the political blocks, to nominate anybody to such posts. Cathy Ashton for example, started life as an administrator for the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and without ever contesting an election found herself a Baroness in the House of Lords, courtesy of Tony Blair.

I ask the citizens of Malta to think seriously what this means. Such tremendous power not only goes to people that we, as well as the millions of ordinary citizens in Europe, never elected, but to people that hardly anybody knows even in Brussels. In theory these posts could have gone to the butcher and his mate who keep the MEPs in meat. While a very well-known figure might have dazzled enough to somehow cast a decorous shadow over this fact, the election of Catherine Ashton and Van Rompuy has put this deficit under some very harsh light. It has been said that it is up to them to make of the posts what they will. That is a scenario that is even more chilling.

The elites and supremacy

What is behind these two choices of course is the concern of the national leaders to keep the reins of power firmly in their hands. Hence what better than to elect a couple of managers to the coveted posts? I do not subscribe to the view that what happened was somehow connected with the desire of most of the people of Europe to put a stop to the never-ending transfer of power from their national governments to unelected federal bureaucrats. The EU only marginally takes popular wishes in its stride. Why else was the Treaty of Lisbon never put to the popular vote?

Moreover, traditionally the EUs top jobs have only been awarded to people who pose no risk of overshadowing national leaders. Brussels has always been seen as a convenient place to park politicians who are either over the hill or simply undesirable. Their hurt pride is amply soothed by the financial rewards of course. And it has happened again. Rompuy was considered past his best until he was brought in to calm relations between the Walloons and the Flemish, while Ashton was informed by phone just as she was leaving for London in complete ignorance of her nomination. Her past was no problem in a set-up not exactly applauded for its lack of democratic structures. Those who dreamed of a change in the way that the EU operates will be disappointed. Those whose tenure of office is the fruit of the way things are done in the EU will feel a sigh of relief.



Who do I call if I want Europe?

That was the question allegedly asked by the former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. The answer to that now should be Catherine Ashton; that is if she can be identified. If President Obama wants to call of course, then the phone should be lifted by Von Rompuy: “I am anxiously waiting for the first phone call” he is reported to have stated. But Barroso was more vague on that point, explaining the EU was not one country. “We are not the United States, we are not China, we are not Russia and we do not want to be... We are a union of states, so by definition our system is more complex,” he said.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel went one better by playing down the need for high-profile figures in top European positions. “I’m one of those people that believe that characters can grow into jobs,” she said. “What is expected from someone called (by US President Obama) is that he is someone who speaks for Europe and not the person who is the most well-known.” She should know. After all, the present incumbents are the result of the trade offs employed by her, Sarkozy of France and Brown of Britain. And it is their vision that created the Treaty of Lisbon that will return to haunt them.

One must not forget that in addition to the two new posts, the EU will still be represented by the head of the European Commission and the government of the country holding the bloc’s six-month presidency, an organisational role held by member states in turn. So if China, Indonesia, the South American Republics or any African state wants to call Europe, they will still need internet directories to give them the numbers of Van Rompuy, or Cathy Ashton, or whatever country has the presidency at the moment. Hardly the streamlined management system promised by the Treaty of Lisbon.



Where does all this leave us?

I want Network Europe to succeed. I want to see Malta take her place among the community of European states as one among equals despite her size and capabilities. I would like to see a democratic Europe, led by the best people her nation states can elect to lead her. I dream of a Europe wise enough to prevent the creation of yet another empire different only from those of the past by the fact that former adversaries have joined hands to rule it together.

The test of any political institution is the satisfaction of the needs of its constituency. That satisfaction can only be identified by giving each and every citizen the right to express himself in a secret vote cast in a fair electoral process. Elevating the unelected to govern is a direct contradiction of the electoral principle. The Treaty of Lisbon has solved nothing.



Dr Josie Muscat is leader

Azzjoni Nazzjonali