Europe: Pessimo Politics

  
Embarrassing moments this morning in the Italian Senate as Mario Monti’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by members of the Lega Nord, an extreme right political party. As Monti kept on with his monotonous speech on Italy’s relations with the EU, heckling and posters continued to interrupt him despite the futile pleading for order by the president of the senate, Schiffani. 

There are definite positives to having a new government made up almost entirely of professors--not politicians--but in situations like this, Monti was a fish out of water and looked confused and disheartened to be heckled during his speech. While he is used to academic conferences and civilized EU meetings, the Italian senate is more like a jungle. It is a theater of roosters where each has to splay their feathers and make a lot of noise. Not to mention the cock fights! Just the other week, a couple senators came to blows on the senate floor (again involving the Lega Nord). It is just no place for a patient and composed professor. 

Berlusconi, with all his faults, was after all, one of the biggest roosters in the coop and he had the respect of all the senators, even the ones that hated him. Monti, on the other hand, was clearly an outsider, quietly waiting for order, again and again, before picking up where he left off. Even I started wondering—is this guy really Italian? Even the most proper Italian would have had enough and said: “Eh, basta però!” But Monti just stood there, looking bewildered as Schiffani argued and threatened to suspend the hearing, like a parent pleading with their children to behave for their guest. In the end, after repeated threats, Schiffani suspended the hearing and the news feed was cut before it got any more embarrassing. 

A lot of hope was placed into Monti and his team of economic scholars. But it has been quite an interesting lesson in politics as to how, in one fail swoop, a nation’s president was forced out and a new “temporary” leader was hand picked and placed into power without an election—without the say of the people. 

In what Monti was able to say today, the words that stick in mind are “country supremacy” and how he wanted to discuss with Merkel and Sarkozy that their recent systematic accord for indebted nations was a mistake and they need to discuss better ways of deciding the future of the 24 other member countries. It may not seem so, but these are very strong words for an academic. Especially when aimed at the two people that put him in charge. 

The other day, an English EU parliament member, Nigel Farage*, the leader of the UK Independence Party, made a remarkable speech in front of the heads of the European Union. Could his words have inspired such a strong stance by Monti?

*Please note: I neither support Nigel Farage, nor the UKIP party. However, I do agree with his words on European member-state sovereignty and believe that the removal of government leaders and control over their elections is an anecdote to democracy and an outrageous abuse of power.*

  

There is a dark underlying problem in the EU right now--and it is not the economy. The problem, as Mr. Farage expressed, is sovereignty. Unfortunately, the altruistic beginnings of a European Union being made of fully independent member countries is ancient history. Becoming a major world economy with one of the strongest currencies has changed the dynamic from a 'start-up' organization to a world-dominating economy. That kind of shift attracts leaders with entirely different agendas. 

France and Germany are now the two leading countries of the EU and they are basically dragging the Mediterranean countries along by their ears. There is much talk, especially in Italy, about Germany dominating Europe--yet again--and it's not sitting well with the people. Tensions have also recently flared with Great Britain due to Prime Minister Cameron's refusal to give-in to Merkel’s tax imposing demands and thereby relinquishing a bit more of England’s sovereignty. And I don’t blame him. Why should he put his country’s citizens and businesses into hardship at the demands of the German Chancellor? Here again, after the upset with Ireland's government last year, Mr. Farage exposes the injustice:

There has been a lot of talk over the break-up of the EU, which would be a terrible disappointment. However, what cost are we willing to pay to keep it together? While I don't agree that the EU should be completely scrapped, Mr. Farage makes a very important point: in the last year, four countries have had their governments replaced with hand-picked people (some of which were not even in their country's government, like Monti) and two countries were prevented from holding elections. To me, that is an awfully steep price.

What are your thoughts?