29 min
Dan Hannan: Why the EU cannot be democratic BrexitCentral Podcast
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Dan Hannan on why democracy can't work in the EU:
"Democracy isn't just a periodic right to put a cross on a bit of paper. democracy also depends on a certain relationship between government and governed.
"You have a sense of loyalty, of shared affinity in Sweden or Portugal or Britain, but nobody ever really says 'I'm a European' in a way that they might say 'I'm a Swede' or 'I'm a Portuguese'.
"So when you have European elections you don't find that they are happening in a context of a European public opinion or recognised pan-European political leaders, what you have, of course, is 28 separate national campaigns because people's primary loyalty is at national level and so there is this Potemkin quality - there's something fake about the whole idea.
"You have these political parties sitting there, you have a pretence that there was some kind of pan European democratic process, but honestly hand on heart can you imagine anybody saying, 'well you know I was gonna vote for Weber but I reckon Verhofstadt edged it in the second debate' - I mean it's just a nonsense."
Dan Hannan on why democracy can't work in the EU:
"Democracy isn't just a periodic right to put a cross on a bit of paper. democracy also depends on a certain relationship between government and governed.
"You have a sense of loyalty, of shared affinity in Sweden or Portugal or Britain, but nobody ever really says 'I'm a European' in a way that they might say 'I'm a Swede' or 'I'm a Portuguese'.
"So when you have European elections you don't find that they are happening in a context of a European public opinion or recognised pan-European political leaders, what you have, of course, is 28 separate national campaigns because people's primary loyalty is at national level and so there is this Potemkin quality - there's something fake about the whole idea.
"You have these political parties sitting there, you have a pretence that there was some kind of pan European democratic process, but honestly hand on heart can you imagine anybody saying, 'well you know I was gonna vote for Weber but I reckon Verhofstadt edged it in the second debate' - I mean it's just a nonsense."
29 min