The European Union is basically afraid of democracy. The reason is that people do not vote the way the political masters would like. The non-elected Commissioners that rule us are an example.
Even more shocking was the recent selection of two top representatives. Both were unknown and one has never held an elected role anywhere; her political power comes through the granting of patronage. Sadly this secretive move is typical of the minimal involvement of the public in the political processes.
The elections of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have now been organised so they do not represent a constituency and are not accountable to the voters. It is defended on the basis of efficiency and fairness but the reality is that it takes away the power of the public to exert any pressure, almost anywhere in Europe. And the prime democracy in Europe, the United Kingdom, is rapidly heading in the same direction.
Take my own home county where the news is that we are to have one super-authority to manage local affairs on our behalf.
.So Norfolk is to get this unitary authority. The main benefit would seem to be the claimed savings. The folk of Norfolk will only be able to judge the reality of such claims when it will be too late to resist this major change. Most taxpayers wearily expect minimal savings in their bills - and those probably only for a transitional year or two. Major costs will be inevitable with all the changes to be made, the relocations, the new buildings and the likely higher salaries of those at the top. Forgive me if I sound unimpressed but we have seen it all before.
However, there may be something behind such changes of which some of your readers may not be aware. Some years ago, I was an adviser to the then Deputy Prime Minister's office which cynics claimed had the brief to organise those political changes that should be kept distant form the Prime Minister. Primarily, these included the many regional 'developments' which were being planned.
The plan seemed to be to get control of regional decision making. The government at the time (and possibly others that may succeed this) find it irritating that local people have opinions and votes that do not always follow national policy. I was involved in the reorganisation of the fire and emergency services which was widely disliked by many of the senior officers in running the county organisations. Those who openly criticised the plans saw no improvement in their career prospects. When this unwritten agenda – defended, of course, on the basis of efficiency and cost savings – became clear, I voiced my concerns at the Fire Service National Conference and declined to undertake any further work.
During the same period, plans were put forward to create a bigger regional or national structure for the health and ambulance services, the police and other operations that reported at a local level and were accountability to local people. The government also introduced the concept of unelected regional governing bodies, of which ours has been a major agency in the shifting of an unnecessary level of house building into our fair county, mainly promoted by those whom do not live here.
At the same time, the European Union (for which I was also an adviser for some time) was also have continual concerns about the waywardness of the public. One solution amongst many to weaken democracy was to change the election process for MEPs; today we no longer have anyone representing our constituencies but just a raft of highly paid unknowns not account able to anyone in the populace. Is it any surprise that voting levels continue to decline. It seems we can do nothing to halt the drive towards 'efficiency'. Even our gravy-train MPs have been muted by political processes and controls that make dissent dangerous.
Rationalisations sounds rational. But inevitably, it will move this county ever further from being a democracy where those who are supposed to serve us are supposed to be accountable to us.
Roger Haywood comments on public opinion issues. He is a leading observer of the public relations and marketing industries. He recently set up a website for young professionals seeking a top job in PR, based on his experience in recruiting and training hundreds of graduates: www.getstartedinpr.com
Haywood is the UK's leading issues analyst who originated the concept of issues management. He is the only person to have chaired both the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He also helped form and chaired the world's largest network of independent business communications consultancies.