[michaelt]

> That's all a symptom of the current state of affairs. If citizens would hold their government accountable for their actions on EU-level, the ruling political parties wouldn't send people to the EU who are ill-equipped to communicate/execute.

What I'm saying is that everyone is ill-equipped to communicate, when communications are conducted in 24 languages.

Imagine a Greek newspaper decided to send a team of dedicated EU reporters to Brussels - how are they supposed to talk to the delegates from Sweden and Slovenia and Spain?

(and if you're thinking "they'll just communicate in english" let me remind you that less than 2% of the EU population lives in a country where english is an official language)

> As it turns out, the local governments are much more comfortable to celebrate themselves for everything positive, and blame everything negative on these "EU overlords".

Truth.

But IMO pre-Brexit a big reason the British government had a lot of influence over the British press (and vice-versa) while the EU government didn't was the simple issue of speaking the same language and being in the same city.

[rickdeckard]

I get what you're saying but that's a non-issue. At plenary meeting and conferences every country is in the same situation, they communicate via an Armada of interpreters, just like they do at the UN, at the WTO, the WHO, the NATO, and so on. Outside of those they communicate in English and/or French.

If a Greek newspaper is sending a journalist who can't speak English or French they sent the wrong person. If a local government sends a politician into the EU who can't communicate in English or French they sent the wrong person. Also, it would already be sufficient for the cause if Greek newspapers would put the spotlight on GREEK politicians in Brussels. So far not even THAT is happening in a sufficient manner...

> But IMO pre-Brexit a big reason the British government had a lot of influence over the British press (and vice-versa) while the EU government didn't was the simple issue of speaking the same language and being in the same city.

Every single press-Release of the EU is done in English language. Granted, the EU doesn't invite to press-conferences in London to talk to the local press, that's the job of the local government.

Pre-Brexit it would have been the job of the British government to promote the spirit of "We are European", but as everywhere it is more useful to their narrative to promote "We are Nationalists!"

[michaelt]

> they communicate via an Armada of interpreters [...] Outside of those they communicate in English and/or French.

> If a Greek newspaper is sending a journalist who can't speak English or French they sent the wrong person.

Right - so from the perspective of a Greek person, EU lawmakers are speaking a completely different language. Seems like a pretty big communication problem to me.

> Also, it would already be sufficient for the cause if Greek newspapers would put the spotlight on GREEK politicians in Brussels.

But the Greek politicians in Brussels already agree with the Greek government.

If the German faction in Brussels wants to do something that'll be unpopular with Greece, they've got no way to make their case to the Greek people directly.

> Pre-Brexit it would have been the job of the British government to promote the spirit of "We are European"

Did the British government ever agree that was their job?

I mean, in the United States I don't see Biden expecting the Texan government to convince Texans of anything. Luckily for Biden, he can speak to Texans himself. Because they share a language.

[rickdeckard]

> Right - so from the perspective of a Greek person, EU lawmakers are speaking a completely different language. Seems like a pretty big communication problem to me.

It appears you've never checked the publications of the EU. They are published in ALL OFFICIAL LANGUAGES of the member countries, including Greek! [1]

> But the Greek politicians in Brussels already agree with the Greek government.

Sorry, I'm not following. I am talking about local citizens and media surfacing and challenging the actions/non-actions of the politicians that were sent to the EU, by holding their local government accountable for the performance of their representatives in the EU.

> If the German faction in Brussels wants to do something that'll be unpopular with Greece, they've got no way to make their case to the Greek people directly.

They shouldn't. They should make their case towards the designated representatives of Greece in the EU. It is their job to facilitate communication with the Greek government, whose job it should be to communicate with its citizens. This chain is intentionally broken, for the local party to either claim positive outcomes only on themselves or blame negative outcomes to some overlords outside of their control.

[1] Example: https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/d...

Switching language to Greek: https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/d...