OhmyNews: Europe's Democratic Deficit - by John Horvath
Europe's Democratic Deficit - by John Horvath
Perhaps one of the most shameful foreign policy positions taken by the EU is with regard to Palestine. In many ways, the internal violence and bloodshed which now occurs on a regular basis in the West Bank and Gaza is directly a result of the policies followed by the EU and other "mediators" in the Middle East. Despite the fact that the elections which had brought the former Hamas-led government to power in 2006 was judged as free and fair, the EU along with other Western powers refused to recognize the result. In essence, it was telling the people of Palestine that you have the right to vote, but only to vote for who we want you to vote for. This twisted form of democracy was reinforced by an economic boycott. In effect, it attempted to economically strangle the popularly elected government.
