There's been a lot of fairly superficial reporting of late about "anti-democratic" governments in Italy, Greece and elsewhere. By this, they mean that Germany and Brussels are calling the shots; and that "technocratic" governments have been imposed, etc.
First, there's nothing necessarily undemocratic about having to go through some difficult times as a result of decsions which electorates contributed to by their vioting and other behaviour. One of the main features of democracy is that it corrects in slow time.
In the UK, voters went along with a central planning, statist approach from 1940 until Thatcher came along. We then underwent twenty-five years of Thatcherite correction, an era which probably came to and end finally in 2007. The pendulum swings slow and far in democracies. So perhaps the Greek and Italian democratic cultures are being formed by the experience of they corrections they are undergoing now. Perhaps in the future, Greek voters will opt for a less hollow state, and for a stronger sense of citizenship and a greater awareness of the Tragedy of the Commons [3]. Perhaps it will become unfashonable to avoid paying taxes.
But I want to explore another power issue in the EU. It's commonly said, and I agree, that European citizens have become alienated from politics, especialy younger people. Political parties have less appeal in an era when which class and which branch of the Church you belong to are less divisive than they were; when more and more people are educated to a healthy level of scepticism; and when "think-tank driven" policy trumps ideology. But alienated citizens are not what you need in a time of great difficulty and difficult choices. And this has been made worse by the structrual dynamics of power within the EU.
What has happened I think, is that national governments have handed over a portion of their power to Brussels. They in their turn have sucked up power from local councils, to compensate. This leaves local councils bereft - where can they suck power up from? Result: local politics has become unattractive and dull, and so young people in particular have no interest in engaging in politics.
And if politics don't work, then where are conflicts anticipated, managed and resolved?