Ontem, enrolados até mais não em cobertores e outras coberturas recuámos no tempo (!!) para o mundo dos DVD’s. Assistiu-se a The Devil You Know.
O que era a CEE em 1981, aos olhos dos autores de Yes, Minister, pelas suas personagens:
“Jim Hacker: “Europe is a community of nations, dedicated towards one goal.”
Sir Humphrey: “Oh, ha ha ha.”
Jim Hacker: “May we share the joke, Humphrey?”
Sir Humphrey: “Oh Minister, let’s look at this objectively. It’s a game played for national interests, it always was. Why do you suppose we went into it?”
Jim Hacker: “To strengthen the brotherhood of Free Western nations.”
Sir Humphrey: “Oh really. We went in to screw the French by splitting them off from the Germans.”
Jim Hacker: “So why did the French go into it then?”
Sir Humphrey: “Well, to protect their inefficient farmers from commercial competition.”
Jim Hacker: “That certainly doesn’t apply to the Germans.”
Sir Humphrey: “No no, they went in to cleanse themselves of genocide and apply for readmission to the human race.”
Jim Hacker: “I never heard such appalling cynicism. At least the small nations didn’t go into it for selfish reasons.”
Sir Humphrey: “Oh really? Luxembourg is in it for the perks; the capital of the EEC, all that foreign money pouring in.”
Jim Hacker: “Very sensible central location.”
Sir Humphrey: “With the administration in Brussels and the Parliament in Strasbourg? Minister, it’s like having the House of Commons in Swindon and the Civil Service in Kettering.”
Fonte: Yes (Prime) Minister
Será que o meu federalismo é compatível com a manutenção deste diagnóstico onde os Sir Humphrey têm em Bruxelas o seu florescente vaticano? O que melhorou desde 1981 até hoje? Talvez, o arremedo de democraticidade que talvez se esteja a começar a verificar no Parlamento Europeu, essa assembleia que tem perdido eleitores a cada novo sufrágio. Não sei se o perigo do referendo que se avizinha estará exclusivamente na mistura com a política partidária (apresentada como algo nefasto por Cavaco Silva ainda ontem).