The missions of the European Union

Sunday, February 27, 2022 (22:30)

The Estonian Parliament will discuss today about their opinion about the “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament (…) on European Missions”. I read the main statement (6 pages)

• “The COVID-19 pandemic (…) clearly demonstrated that a crisis can best be tackled through solidarity, coordinated action and a critical role for independent science.” (Estonian: “COVID-19 pandeemia (…) näitas selgelt, et kriisi saab kõige paremini lahendada siis, kui ollakse solidaarsed ja tegutsetakse koordineeritult ning kui sõltumatul teadusel on oluline roll.”)

  My spontaneous okay for “solidarity” and “coordinated action”, but oops, what is “independent science”? I hope it doesn’t mean “science financed by private corporations”? Science is never independent, it always depends on the one who pays the bill. Science must be financed and controlled by governments, not by greedy giants.

• “EU Missions set out bold, concrete and measurable targets in a well-defined timeframe during which results can realistically be expected.” (Estonian: “ELi missioonidele seati julged, konkreetsed ja mõõdetavad eesmärgid kindlaksmääratud ajaks, mille jooksul on realistlik tulemusi oodata.”)

  Spontaneously I would ask whether “innovation and research” aren’t by definition in contradiction with results that “can realistically be expected”

That’s the big difference between religion and politics: church institutions are powers that speak about God, whom we cannot know nor regulate, and the governments speak about the visible world, which we are called to regulate.

The above text makes me think: OMG! What a huge and never-ending administrative work! Does it really need to get done this way? Isn’t all this buraucracy really an infrastructure that helps the rich with exploiting the poor? Who cares for what isn’t lucrative? Shouldn’t we rather change a few laws at the base and then base our governments on intuitive trust and some basic moral rules?