Germany has led the Iron, Coal and Steel Community, The Common Market and more recently the European Union. From the beginning Germany developed the mass of bureaucratic establishments which are necessary to run such major international organisations. Most importantly Germany placed German citizens in high places throughout the EU establishments.
To a large extent Germany made the decisions which have been rubber stamped by the institutions or the European Parliament.
The UK was not invited to join the Common Market until 1973 by which time the key Institutions were in place and the leading positions were filled by Germans also the French legal structures were also in place. Further in the intervening period the UK has had minimal voting power to make the essential changes which are necessary. Further, David Cameron spent two years trying to persuade the EU to make the changes which are necessary to ensure that Europe is competitive within the international markets. Despite his efforts David Cameron was also ignored.
The members of the European Parliament are elected by the electorate in each of the member states. The members debate proposed rules and regulations and either vote for or against the proposed regulations (or Laws). If they vote for the regulations all is well and they are put into effect. If on the other hand the regulations are refused they are returned to the institution which proposed the regulations. After their considerations the matter will be referred back to Parliament but on this occasion the parliament does not have the power to block them again.
So much for a democracy.
But let us look at two examples.
About 2 years ago Germany had in effect full employment. Mrs Merkel decided that Germany would benefit from an influx of immigrants. The Gates were opened and there was a immediate major influx of largely Middle Eastern immigrants via Turkey into Greece. Within a very short period of time they were on the move through Eastern Europe and many reached Germany.
Within a few weeks, large groups of Neo Nazi gathered and they attacked the newly arrived immigrants. Germany was in crisis because it had to stop the flow of immigrants into Germany. Mrs Merkel immediately met with the president of Turkey and did a deal with him in effect to stop the flow of immigrants to Germany. She also committed substantial sums of money to be paid to Turkey by the EU. None of this had been approved by the European Parliament or the member states before it was put into effect.
Shortly afterwards Mrs Merkel lost her majority in a national election and to remain in power she had to go into coalition with the AfG, which is a far right party. The AfG party is gaining momentum and could quite possibly replace Mrs Merkel in the near future.
It would appear as though Germany is currently losing its position of domination within the EU.
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