(starting near minute 27 of the full interview with Paul Mason - Guardian Live)
To have democracy
it is not enough to have elections.
U must have a body politic
which is represented by a sovereign parliament,
which can ask these questions of its rulers
and can get rid of them.
Now, the greatest economy in the world
at the moment is the Euro-zone,
in terms of size, complexity, importance
and so on and soforth.
It is run by...
It is run by the Eurogroup, right?
I can assure you,
that these decisions are made
in a way that, if U knew...
(it's a bit like sausages,
if U know what's in it, U don't want to touch it.)
If U knew how the Eurogroup operates,
If the German citizens, French citizens...
(and this is what i'm up to these days,
i'm trying to concrete mischief about Europe
by efectively being a whistleblower and telling them
what goes on in there on their behalf!)
Would U believe it
that there are no minutes taken,
so that the citizens of Europa...
can never find out what
their respresentative said on their behalf?
Would you believe that...
the ministers of finance, sitting around
that large rectangular table...
make decisions on Greece, on Portugal
on Spain, on France...
without having been BRIEFED
about the data or the proposals...
that are being put before them
to decide on? Never briefed!
Once i suggested that i send by email
to the other ministers of finance...
my proposals regarding the bailout deal.
And i was warned that if i do that
it would be Casus Belli, a cause for war...
And any proposal that i email to my
fellow ministers of finance...
would be disqualified from the conversation.
Why?
I never understood the answer to that question,
I put it to them and i was told
by Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble...
the German minister of finance,
that if i did that, he would then...
be obliged to submit my proposals
to the Bundestag, the federal parliament in Berlin,
(which i didn't think
was such a disaster anyway)
and then if that happened
a debate on my proposals...
would begin in the Bundestag
before we had it in the Europgroup,
which would mean that we
wouldn't be able to have it in the Eurogroup,
and if U do it...
i'm never gonna discuss these proposals with U.
This contempt for the paraliamentary process,
for transparency...
is part and parcel of the democratic deficit.
Let me put it differently:
here in Britain...
U have a system of government
that leaves much to be desired...
yet, when George Osborne takes a decision...
he has to appear in front of the house...
and defend it.
And the house of commons
has the authority to dismiss him.
Now, when we decide in the Eurogroup...
we are the government...
the economic government
of the Euro-zone.
We make a decision...
based on precisely ZERO information...
(the decision has already been made behind closed doors
in dark corners of those terrible buildings)
we all then meet...
the representatives of the Troika speak first!
So first is the commisioner mr. Moskovicy
who speaks on any subject: Portugal, Greece, whatever...
Then the president of the Central Bank.
Then the managing director of the IMF,
which is not even part of Europa.
And then the ministers,
on the basis of what they HEARD,
not on any document they have in front of them,
on the basis of what they heard from the Troika...
have ten minutes each
to say some enanity...
(because U can't say anything serious
when U're not briefed)
and anyway there is no negotiation.
This process lasts for about
half an hour, an hour... maybe two...
and then we spend three hours debating
the ONLY thing to which we're contributing...
the press release.
And that is how European law
and European economic policy decide.
Then everybody comes out
and nobody defends it.
So the Spanish finance minister goes to Spain,
goes to Madrid, goes to his parliament...
and if somebody says to him:
"What was this idiocy that you agreed upon?
at the level of the Eurogroup"
U know what he says?
Oooh, it was the best i could do... U know...
I was only one...
there were eighteen against me...
But everybody says that!
Schäuble goes to the Bundestag he defends himself
by saying: "Oooh, it is the best I could do..."
so in the end
NOBODY IS RESPONSIBLE.
