February 27, 2005

Will Europe be democratic?

By James Lewis

Following President Bush's trip to Europe this past week, a journey to promote democracy in Russia and the Islamic world, he might also want to turn his attention to the rapid decline of popular government in Europe. Strangely enough, the autocrats of the European Union seem determined to rule millions of lives without bothering with trivia like popular elections.

Janet Daley of the London Telegraph wrote recently that

'Europe does not have a deep commitment to democracy, at least not in the sense that the English—speaking tradition understands it. ... I do believe that the democratic experiment in continental Europe, begun just over 200 years or so ago, is coming to a close.'