Unelected power: Democracy on the retreat in Europe
Neil Clark ■ Genuine people’s power is on the retreat in Europe, and it's under attack from those who most loudly claim to be “democrats.” Last week we saw the unelected EU foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, meeting the new unelected Ukrainian “president,” Aleksandr Turchynov, who came to power following a violent overthrow of that country's democratically elected president – with the rebellion backed by the EU. The hailing of a foreign-backed coup d’état in a country where fresh elections were only 12 months away as a “victory for democracy” was truly Orwellian. The wishes of the 2 million people who marched against the Iraq war in London in February 2003 were arrogantly dismissed, but the protesters in Maidan, though far fewer in number, simply had to have their way. Ukraine, though a dramatic example, is not the only European country where democracy has been suspended in recent years.