Priorities, priorities

EU Observer is reporting that senior officials in Belgium are in no hurry to form a government. The reason is that it could unravel all their hard work in setting up the Belgian EU Presidency that starts in July. As I asked a week or so ago about the Belgian political crisis 'Who Cares'?

Well it is becoming increasingly apparent that the EU does indeed care.

"The current government still has full powers," a senior Belgian official told press in an off-the-record briefing on Sunday (27 June). "Everything we have decided on for the EU presidency has been agreed by all parties from both French and Flemish-speaking communities."
The current set of ministers has built up detailed knowledge of the issues set to dominate the presidency's to-do list as well as constructive personal relationships with their EU counterparts, another contact said.
"The danger is that the new government forms just at the moment of another crisis in the EU," the second Belgian official explained, citing a potential member state application to the eurozone's recently-agreed emergency funding mechanism as an example.

That this sort of stuff is being said, demi-officially speaks volumes. In days of yore elctions were held to form governments that attempted to represent the views of the people who voted. National governments were elected and put forward a program that spoke for and to their electorate.

Now it seems that those views are an inconvienience to the true business, which is to ensure the smooth running of the European Union.

We (the elite) decided to do x or y. Then the people had a say and said the wrong thing, so it would be better all round if we didn't respond to the wishes of the people and just carried on anyway with our previous plans.

Not sure what I would call it, but it certainly does not display any understanding or adhearence to democratic principles.

If I was a Belgian I would be sick to my stomach, and not because of the overcooked Waterzooi