Rethinking E.U. Governance.
Sitting here in a scarily sober non-stupor (though the neo-puritan anti-alcohol fascists would probably start arguing about 2 or 3 units) before the real fun of the Eurovision starts (that is, the voting) - I am struck at how Eurovision is the opposite of E.U. Eurovision is fun, the E.U. is plodding and grey; Eurovision has an inclusive outward looking view of Europe (Israel and Turkey are both members), the E.U. is narrowly confined to the western end of the continent. One of the genuine high-lights of the Balkan conflict was the massive cheer which went up when for the first time the Bosnian votes were cast down a crackly telephone line from Sarajevo - by contrast, the bloodshed of that conflict can in significant part be laid with the incompetent E.U. handling of the emerging nationalist movements of Yugoslavia. Given this - how would people think about the suggestion that the E.U. should be immediately expanded to include all member states of the E.B.U., and that the results of the Eurovision should be used in governance? Rather than the European Parliament as currently constituted, the new Parliament would consist of each country's Eurovision act; under the chairmanship of the winning state. Rather than the current rotating E.U. presidency, it could go to the winning entry. If you think the result would be bad - ask yourself for one moment whether it would be any worse than the current system. Despite being heavily tempted by the Bosnian and Latvian entries - my vote went for Azerbaijan.
Sitting here in a scarily sober non-stupor (though the neo-puritan anti-alcohol fascists would probably start arguing about 2 or 3 units) before the real fun of the Eurovision starts (that is, the voting) - I am struck at how Eurovision is the opposite of E.U. Eurovision is fun, the E.U. is plodding and grey; Eurovision has an inclusive outward looking view of Europe (Israel and Turkey are both members), the E.U. is narrowly confined to the western end of the continent. One of the genuine high-lights of the Balkan conflict was the massive cheer which went up when for the first time the Bosnian votes were cast down a crackly telephone line from Sarajevo - by contrast, the bloodshed of that conflict can in significant part be laid with the incompetent E.U. handling of the emerging nationalist movements of Yugoslavia. Given this - how would people think about the suggestion that the E.U. should be immediately expanded to include all member states of the E.B.U., and that the results of the Eurovision should be used in governance? Rather than the European Parliament as currently constituted, the new Parliament would consist of each country's Eurovision act; under the chairmanship of the winning state. Rather than the current rotating E.U. presidency, it could go to the winning entry. If you think the result would be bad - ask yourself for one moment whether it would be any worse than the current system. Despite being heavily tempted by the Bosnian and Latvian entries - my vote went for Azerbaijan.