This is an excellent article by Quentin Peel in the FT, reminding us of the critically important decision that is due to be announced in the next forty-eight hours. Check it out!
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Let’s hope that the decision will give German political leadership the room to make effective policy decisions.
Views?
Dr Alf's Blog 
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A democratic deficit is created by leaders who decide that they are unwilling to risk having their decisions ratified by the people. General elections do not always provide a solution. Here in the UK (as an example) we see UKIP as being the only party against the UK remaining in the EU. People are (rightly) nervous about voting for a party with no other credible policies and so there is no method whereby the people of the UK can express their views on a single subject.
Same thing applies in Germany. The fact that that a measure has been passed by duly elected representatives makes no difference: the people of Germany do not like what is happening to their money and the way their wealth is being used to prop up peoples who, by German standards, are lazy and improvident.
The court must decide between what is right for the people and what is right for – well, for what? Germany as a nation? The duly elected German government? The economy of the Eurozone?
I suggest that this muddle is a direct consequence of the democratic deficiency in the EU and especially in the Eurozone. The foundations are rotten: the edifice is at risk. Whether we in the UK would be better off if it all fell down or not is another subject.
Rodney Willett
Rodney, thanks very much for your posting. I think that the concept of erosion of democracy in Europe is worthy of further development