This is how democracies end – not only in Great Britain
After Prime Minister Johnson’s coup, warnings of an end to British democracy are hailing. But it is not only in Britain that there is cause for concern.
The German weekly “Die Zeit” is alarmed. “So enden Demokratien – This is how democracies end” is the title of a commentary that has received much attention and comment. It’s about Johnson’s will to power, which he wants to enforce against the House of Commons. “The consequences will be catastrophic,” warns the liberal newspaper from Hamburg.
Like most other media, “Die Zeit” is much more gracious in its handling of the coup in Italy. There, too, there has been a change of power without elections, and there too the new government wants to overrule the people. Prime Minister Conte is changing government like others.
After all, Conte still relies on a majority in parliament. But he has been leveraging the “royal right” of parliamentarians for months now. The Italian state budget will also be negotiated under the new government with the EU Commission in Brussels, and not in Rome.
That’s how democracies end – just like in Greece, where the EU first forced its will on the old left-wing government, and where the new conservative government now has to make do with extremely tough austerity measures that even the IMF considers surreal.
And then, of course, there is the EU itself. It celebrated the European elections as a “festival of democracy” (Council President Tusk) in order to override the will of the newly elected European Parliament. That too was a coup – staged by the heads of the Union.
Let us summarise: In Great Britain, Italy and Greece, the parliaments were deprived of power. In London and Rome there was a change of power without elections, and in the EU there were elections without a change of power. And all that in a few months.
This is how democracies end – in the middle of EUropa…
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Ein Europäer
1. September 2019 @ 20:58
Absolute tosh! The European newspapers are taking their cue from the Remainers without bothering to understand what is going on.
What is there to debate though, Parliament have rejected 3 times the deal offered by the Eurorean union, the European union for its part have said that that deal is the only one on offer. There is only one alternative and that is to leave without a deal – parliament has already legislated on this. If the EU offers a new deal and Boris Johnson refuses to recall parliament to discuss that deal then perhaps there is some merit to the accusations but until then No Deal is the only option no matter how much some people dislike that fact.