Quote:
Originally Posted by nath
There is something that I don't understand, Patrick, in your state of mind...
*One one hand, you want a big Unification of "Europe",even with one President of this European Union...
*and , on the other hand, for France, you wish the opposite of this Unification: I mean the Autonomy of all the different French Regions...
So,could you explain to me, more in details, your point of view, please, because I surely miss something but it seems to me there is here a kind of contradiction for my poor mind...
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I don't see it as a contradiction, i see it as a 3-level federation -
Province > State > Federation - each with distinct powers and reponsibilities.
The fact that i want a European federation doesn't mean that i would want everything to be decided and managed at the top federal level, there are many things that are best managed at the state level and many things that are best managed at the provincial level. Each entity would be far enough from the other 2 in terms of size and population so they would not compete or interfere with each other's powers and responsibilities, i mean, it's obvious that a province would have nothing to do with foreign affairs, and it's obvious that the federation would not manage daycare centers.
I want a European federation because i don't think any European state on its own has enough weight to be heard in international matters, especially with powers like the US, China or India that are (or will be) so much more powerful than any European state. I also want a European federation because i think European people have enough in common to live together, after all the descendants of those same Europeans live together in the US federation or the Canadian federation for example, i don't see why they could not live together in a European federation.
A European federation would only manage continental and global matters like foreign affairs, international relations, defense, protection of civil liberties and human rights, and any other areas that states would decide to transfer to the top federal level.
That leaves many things for the state and provicial levels.
And yes, i do think that it would be better if French provinces had a greater autonomy to manage their local affairs, i think that way too many things that only concern a local population are decided in Paris. Maybe it's the word 'autonomy' that bothers you, i could have called it 'greater decentralization', i'm not asking for much, i think it would already be great if the powers of departements and regions were merged into one entity. I think provinces should manage things like roads, transports, schools, hospitals, etc, the things that are close to people's everyday life and are best managed by a local authority (in my opinion).
But let me be clear on one thing, those provincial powers would be *delegated* by the state, not *transfered*, meaning that the state keeps the right to take those powers back if need be, and those provinces would have no law-making powers, they would have to follow state and federal laws.
Hopefully i'm clear enough.
