Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). The French government has caved in to the dispute with farmers, according to reports over the weekend. However, it would not be possible for France to go it alone without the approval of the EU Commission. This is because in many areas, governments and parliaments have ceded decisive issues to the EU for the benefit of their own people.
On Thursday last week, two of the most important French agricultural unions voted in favour of suspending the protests and lifting the road blockades across the country. This came after the government announced measures that the unions described as “tangible progress” towards the farmers’ demands. Another question is whether this actually means an end to the massive French revolts against the two main problems facing farmers across the EU.
The first major problem is the EU’s “climate-oriented”, green ideological initiatives, which are undermining the foundations of the economic existence of small and medium-sized farmers in the European Union. The second acute problem for farmers is the duty-free and mass export of agricultural products from the non-EU country Ukraine to the EU.
With its low prices, Ukraine is destroying the agricultural markets in the EU, with corresponding reactions from farmers from Poland to Holland, France and Spain. This problem also has its roots in the unrealistic, ideologically based decisions of the democratically unelected Eurocrats in Brussels who largely rule the EU countries. Their dogged efforts to ruin Russia and support the Zelensky regime as a battering ram at all levels with money, weapons and the privilege of duty-free exports to the EU are, of course, at the expense of their own populations in the EU countries.
Against this backdrop, the declaration by France’s two leading agricultural trade unions that the “Macronat”, as the Macron government is popularly known, has announced measures for “tangible progress” on the farmers’ demands appears to be window dressing to defuse the tense situation and take the momentum out of the protests. Accordingly, the chairman of the French party “The Patriots”, Florian Philippot, has warned the farmers against making false promises:
“Macron will not decide anything about unfair imports from Ukraine, especially poultry meat. The European Union decides, and Macron knows that. The EU in Brussels has decided to give Ukraine a cheque for 50 billion euros over four years. That is hypocrisy. It is giving Zelensky more than it is helping the French farmers,” he said.
In his opinion, Brussels has bought Ukraine with this aid programme, but at the same time has completely ruined the farms in the European countries.
In fact, the European Commission in Brussels, as the executive authority of the European Union, headed by the unspeakable Mrs v. d. Leyen, plays the sole central role in the formulation and implementation of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The European Commission sets the legal framework and funding mechanisms for the CAP, monitors its implementation and carries out reforms to adapt it to changing conditions and priorities.
The Member States of the European Union have at best marginal influence at national level through their governments with regard to the special features of their national agricultural structure. In general, national governments are responsible for implementing the CAP measures adopted in Brussels at national level, including monitoring compliance with environmental standards.
The CAP is one of the EU’s oldest and most important policies and, according to its official mandate, aims to
- promote agricultural production
- guarantee it,
- support rural development and
- secure farmers’ incomes.
These are the objectives, but as we can see, the detached elites in the EU Commission, who are responsible for agricultural policy, have lost all connection to the CAP objectives that are declared to the outside world. De facto, they have turned the objectives into their opposite. Today, the EU Commission is hindering agricultural production, undermining food security, promoting rural impoverishment and ruining agriculture.
The elites in Brussels do all this with a clear conscience because they want to stop climate change, for example, even though it has been changing steadily for thousands of years; or because they feel they are more concerned with big politics than with the interests of the people and because they are unscrupulously prepared to sacrifice a few farmers on the geostrategic chessboard for their own advancement and for “democracy”. However, farmers across the EU are less and less willing to put up with this.
In addition to the mass protests in Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Germany and Poland, the previously quiet Ireland was also affected last weekend. In France at the beginning of last week, the mass mobilisation of farmers even managed to block the major access roads to Paris with their tractors for days on end and cut off supplies.
As a rule, the mass protests that have been going on for weeks have been directed against the wrong people, namely their own governments. But as we have already seen above, national governments and parliaments have virtually no say in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The national governments and parliaments have long since surrendered their decision-making sovereignty in this regard to the democratically unelected Eurocrats of the EU Commission of the von der Leyen type and to the EU’s sham parliament in Brussels. And this does not only apply to agriculture.
The individual EU member states also no longer have any room for manoeuvre for sovereign national decisions in all facets of EU foreign trade. The sole authority for this lies with the EU Commission in Brussels and its highly paid claqueurs in the EU’s sham parliament, whose task it is to convey the false impression that everything is done democratically. The same applies to monetary policy in the eurozone. This is extremely important for national sovereignty and the organisation of one’s own economy. But neither the Federal Government nor the Bundestag still have the ability to make monetary policy tailored to German national needs. This competence has been ceded to anonymous bureaucrats at the European Central Bank (ECB).
The so-called “European Parliament” (EP) is rightly labelled a “sham parliament” by critics because it does not even have the power to develop its own legislative initiatives like any other decent parliament worthy of the name, i.e. to bring bills to the table that come from the ranks of the representatives of the sovereign, i.e. the people. Instead, the EP’s main function is limited to nodding off EU directives and thus giving them the force of law throughout the EU. After approval by the EP, EU directives must be incorporated into national laws at Member State level. The national parliaments have to look on helplessly as they do not have the right to scrutinise EU directives or insist on amendments.
In fact, more and more national trade activities are being transferred to Brussels, removing them “for the greater good” from the decision of the people’s representatives in the national parliaments. In their place, international functionaries of the EU Commission decide on the new directives (laws). However, the Eurocrats are assisted in this difficult task by 6,000+ highly qualified “advisors” in Brussels. They do not cost the EU or us taxpayers a single euro, because they are kindly paid by the various large corporations in industry, finance, trade and their associations that are active in the EU. This is reminiscent of the statement: “Who needs corruption when lobbying is legal”.
At the same time, these 6,000+ advisors are only too happy to share their “knowledge” with their guests from the EU Parliament over expensive meals in Brussels’ gourmet restaurants and even more expensive wines. This has the advantage that the so-called “EU Parliament” is considered to be more decisive than was the case with the real, democratic parliaments, in which the various facets of a new law used to be debated in a time-consuming process.
The bottom line is that the free 6,000+ advisors from the EU Commission and the EP have greatly accelerated the EU’s legislative process. Meanwhile, the Brussels-based press representatives and courtiers ensure that the public is well prepared in the media as part of the process of converting EU directives into national law in the member states.
Under pressure from globally operating corporations, the governments of EU member states have increasingly ceded larger areas of previously sovereign parliamentary decision-making and state trade to the EU Commission, which has gone largely unnoticed by the public thanks to the media. This is one of the consequences: Since national parliaments no longer have any say in the complete area of foreign trade, for example, the democratically unelected Eurocrats in Brussels have been able to impose sanctions against Russia single-handedly. The German Bundestag also had and still has no influence on this, even though the sanctions against Russia did not affect the Kremlin in this specific case, but instead forced the German economy into recession.
The “traffic light” government can justifiably argue that its hands are tied because everything is decided in Brussels. Therefore, decisions that are vital for our economy must no longer be taken by anonymous, democratically unelected EU functionaries in Brussels, who are also “advised” by relevant lobbyists. Anyone calling for more democracy must therefore ensure that important decisions are once again made closer to home, by the people in their own national parliaments. There is currently only one party in Germany that has set itself this goal. All other parties are pushing in the opposite direction, blinded by supposed “internationalism and diversity”.
Naturally, the only German party that has set itself the goal of first limiting the reach of the EU octopus and then rolling back its legislative powers has incurred the concentrated wrath of the neoliberal elites and their masters in politics, finance and the media. Because from the point of view of these elites, it is totally nationalistic and “vindictive” for a party to prioritise the interests of its own people and their economic livelihood.
The hundreds of thousands of well-off citizens who are currently demonstrating in the streets and squares of our country against “Rächst” are a frightening demonstration of the successful manipulation of the opinions of the broad masses, who have obviously internalised the idea that war means peace and ignorance means wisdom and have completely forgotten the real problems in our society.
In the video clips broadcast by government radio, the demonstrators proudly talk about the courage they have shown with their protests against “rächts” and the AfD. But anyone who goes to demonstrations called for by the government, representatives of the established parties, their NGOs and the propaganda media is not showing courage, but cowardice. Because he is a follower and is acting out of fear that if he doesn’t take part, he could be suspected of being “ruthless” by the others and bullied as usual.
Anyone who demonstrates against the US/NATO war against Russia has courage. Because they must expect to be bludgeoned by the police. For the same reason, anyone who currently represents the position of the UN International Court of Justice on German streets and demonstrates against war crimes and the alleged genocide in Gaza is courageous. And every protest against German arms deliveries to Israel and Ukraine is also courageous. And last but not least, back to the question posed at the beginning: “Is there anything further to the right than German tanks shooting at Russians again?”
