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Germany is not supporting ChatControl – blocking minority secured

(digitalcourage.social)
1121 points xyzal | 1 comments | 11 Sep 25 08:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.203s | source
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ManBeardPc ◴[11 Sep 25 09:27 UTC] No.45209514[source]▶
Glad we could delay it for now. It will come back again and again with that high of support though. Also the German Bundestag is already discussing a compromise: https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-1108356. They are only unhappy with certain points like breaking encryption. They still want to destroy privacy and cut back our rights in the name of "safety", just a little less.
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uyzstvqs ◴[11 Sep 25 09:55 UTC] No.45209691[source]▶
The bigger issue is that we need to make the EU actually democratic. Start by removing every branch but the European Parliament. That's the only solution.
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rbehrends ◴[11 Sep 25 11:07 UTC] No.45210150[source]▶
What you are proposing would amount replacing the current bicameral legislature (with the European Parliament as the lower house and the Council of the EU as the upper house) with a unicameral legislature. That would actually make it easier for bad laws to be passed, especially as the supermajority required in the Council is currently the biggest obstacle for this kind of legislation.

I'll also note that nothing here is per se undemocratic. Both the Parliament and the Council are made up of elected members. The members of the Council (as members of the national governments) are indirectly elected, but elected all the same. Direct election is not a requirement for a democracy (see election of the US president or the US Senate prior to the 17th amendment or the Senate of Canada right now).

That does not mean that there isn't plenty of valid criticism of the EU's current structure, but claiming that it is not "actually democratic" falls far short of a meaningful critique.

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HexPhantom ◴[11 Sep 25 11:22 UTC] No.45210245[source]▶
The EU isn't undemocratic, but it feels undemocratic to many, and that's a legitimacy issue worth taking seriously
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port11 ◴[11 Sep 25 11:43 UTC] No.45210405[source]▶
The EU feels undemocratic because it focuses on a lot of legislation that doesn't reflect what people want. It also works on some good stuff.

Over the past decade I went from a big fan to someone very troubled about the political goals of the elites.

And, having lived in Brussels, you can sorta see why they're disconnected from the “will of the people”…

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throw-the-towel ◴[11 Sep 25 12:15 UTC] No.45210658[source]▶
What's the problem with living in Brussels? I'm not European, and very curious about that.
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1. port11 ◴[11 Sep 25 18:27 UTC] No.45214624[source]▶
inglor_cz put it quite well.

Eventually it gets on your nerves how much worse the city has to be to cater to the Institutions.

There's something about non-taxed coddled elites eating oysters and drinking champagne at 9AM on a Sunday that makes you a bit of a cynic.

And then, of course, all your friends works for the research companies that get paid a fortune to provide advice to the Eurocrats. But well, your friend has a Bachelor's in Marketing and she's being considered an expert on Soil Research because… eh, the agency is getting paid.

The Bubble is there and you'll be exposed to it. It's not a good Bubble. It's mostly young MBAs and Political Science majors that think they know how to fix everything.

(And some very talented people, of course. It's not all bad.)