The European Union was originally established to ensure that Germany would no longer cause a catastrophe like those in 1914 and 1939. In this sense, the project has been highly successful.
The Union has also been successful in another way, as it has attracted – and continues to attract – new members for decades. For example, my own country, Finland, joined through a referendum at the beginning of 1995.
However, as the Union has grown, we have also witnessed a development that is all too familiar to my generation. I mean the uncontrolled growth of bureaucracy, much like what happened in the Soviet Union.
This issue was raised by former MEP and current member of the European Court of Auditors, Petri Sarvamaa (National Coalition Party). According to him, “our biggest concern is precisely that the authorities of the member states are no longer even able to properly manage this complex jungle of rules related to the EU budget and budgeting.”
Although the growth of bureaucracy in the EU has been ongoing for a long time, it has been discussed relatively little in public. Therefore, it was good that Sarvamaa brought it up, and one can only hope that his remarks gain visibility across the entire EU and are taken seriously by the Commission, so that it can start working to reduce bureaucracy.
It is quite clear that the EU will not be able to compete with the world's other economic powers if its operations are hindered by double layers of heavy bureaucracy – one at the Union level and another at the national level. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the first should be limited to only necessary EU-wide regulations.
Otherwise, the EU will suffocate in its own bureaucracy, eventually withering into a second-rate player in global politics. And with that, it will begin a slow but steady decline, eventually culminating in the breakup of the entire Union.
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Rising Trade Tensions Between the EU and China
General Pekka Toveri, the Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Ukraine
EU Decision-Makers Did the Bear a Disservice
Absolutely. There was a X message. In the U.S.A they developed the Artifical Intelligence, chinese copied it, the europeans developed a bottlecap with a hinge.
ReplyDelete