Is It Possible To Reform the EU?

Everybody has an opinion about it, each of us has commented it but no one has really ever seen it. The reform of the European Union divides many and every debate about it arouses strong emotions.

I am a realist and I know that reforming something so massive and monolithic such as the European bureaucracy is quite a task. At the same time I see that for a country of our size isolationism is not a solution. In addition, for the West to be able to face the current threats such as the Islamic state, it must cooperate not disintegrate.

We can’t pretend that nothing is happening

But the truth is that apart from some small shy steps, no real attempts to reform the EU have been taken. And yet, I think that the best time to do it is now. The migration crisis and the terrorist attacks have forced politicians to think differently and to listen to the voters. Brexit has opened a Pandora's Box and demonstrated to the detached Brussels elites that there are some people who want to leave their beloved club. The crisis in Turkey will certainly affect the functioning of NATO and EU members will have to take a clear stand. Russia still feels its chances and using the salami tactics it is trying to get more and more allies on its side. In short in Europe and at its doorstep there is too much going on to pretend that it is vital now to regulate emissions of lawn mowers and high consumption of vacuums cleaners.

We have to start doing something

Instead of academic, but still only theoretical talks, we need to start doing something. If the reform of the EU should come, we cannot expect it from Brussels. It must come from the places where there is still power over the European integration, but often there is no will - from the member states.

Let’s form a Coalition for Change

Therefore we must start by creating a coalition of countries with similar opinions and begin to think about what, how and in what timeframe can be changed. For the Czech Republic it will be a little tricky because its citizens do not often understand their Prime Minister, let alone him negotiating something internationally in English or otherwise. But we will have general elections this autumn which open a new chance for the reform initiatives.

Let’s Get Rid of the Brussels Elites

It is necessary to admit that the current garniture of the EU has not brought anything good and forget that it could bring anything new in the future. If we think about the change, the people in charge of the EU have to be connected with reality and have some common sense. Ideally these people with their realistic views of the reform can help to speed up the whole process from within Brussels.

Fire the Brussels Bureaucrats

EU bureaucracy has grown to huge proportions. Most officials have salaries that the employees in the Member States can only dream of. And most of the time their only goal is to find justification for their seats until they leave to enjoy their euro-pensions. Meaningless regulations arise in Brussels precisely because officials are trying to pretend work.

The European Commission should be limited to a few areas and its powers should be mainly coordination. European Commissioners are often retired politicians that nobody wanted at home anymore. Skilled politicians remain in national politics. This must change. And I admit quite openly, the principle of one country - one commissioner is a relic. The very existence of so many Commissioners is the reason for so much nonsense coming from Brussels.

Let's do a complete audit of European legislation

Over the years the EU has adopted so many regulations, directives, decisions and who knows what that it is almost impossible to calculate them all. But we must do the opposite - we need to make a in-depth audit of them, choose the most useful and cancel the rest. It will not be easy. First, there are really tons of them. But also, it will be necessary to clean the national jurisdictions which are contaminated through the implementation.

Remove most European subsidies

European countries must finally admit that it is not possible for all EU regions to be equally wealthy. Just as there are rich and poor people alike there will be rich and poor parts of the EU. Subsidies can offer some relief, but the price must reflect the outcomes. Moreover, the poorer the country, the greater the subsidy corruption and the less the subsidies are effective.

And so must change agricultural subsidies. Farmers are accustomed to work, so for sure they eventually reconciled with the fact that their main livelihood is farming again, not the administration of European subsidies. Common Agricultural Policy only breeded powerful and rich agro-corporation living of subsidies. Small farmer must find a way somewhere else, like the popular bio production.

It may sound naive, but we need to start somewhere

It is necessary to act. It is necessary to preserve the good and change the bad. We need to start preparing the reform of the EU. Not looking for reasons why it is not possible and hope that isolation or any other form of cooperation will save us. These are somehow bound to the EU anyway.

Maybe I'm naive in my conception. But the worst is the world painted in black-and-white. When each party has its own opinion and zero tolerance for the other, we are not going to move anywhere. We should start doing something, not just talk about the change.

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