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Can democracy be the project that leads to further European integration?

A circulation of misinformation can have far-reaching implications, and can influence not only the European Union’s relations with Russia and its neighbours, but also its own internal process of integration.

The architecture of the European Union institutions is flawed.

The European Union is far from perfect – from a Green perspective – yet at times when it is threatened, we must rally to its defence as an idea and as a project.

Behind the sensational headlines and the obfuscating rhetoric, how can we explain the stark polarisation that seems to be taking hold, across Europe, between those who defend the idea of Europe and its institutions, and those who feel these do not enhance but rather hinder and threaten their aspirations?

The Swedish power company Vattenfall, its mining activities and its impact throughout Europe – especially in Germany – illustrates the need for Greens to Europeanise their battles and their cooperation. Environmental protection and cross-national cooperation are two values that European Greens pride themselves on upholding. Vattenfall is and should be a test case for European Greens.

As the TTIP negotiations between the EU and US continue, another equally sinister force is currently under construction: the Environmental Goods Act (EGA). Both are conducted in secret, and we should not allow the controversy of the former to distract us too much from the great greenwash of the latter.

We find ourselves living in a society where increasingly our actions and our right to freedom of cross-border movements – or lack thereof – are being constantly monitored, both physically and digitally. But as we enter the surveillance age, forms of digital civil disobedience are fighting to go beyond these new borders and to protect our scrutinised values and movements, and our right to privacy.

The rise of the Eurosceptic party UKIP and its leader Nigel Farage have forced British Prime Minister David Cameron to organise a referendum UK-EU membership, fulfilling a pledge made during the general elections of May 2015. It is interesting to consider the economic and political consequences of leaving for the United Kingdom, and more fundamentally, for the EU as a whole and as a political project.

The EU referendum debate in Britain has avoided any proper analysis of the institution’s flaws and whether or not the EU can be used by Greens to help create sustainable economies. Recent history shows the EU moving in the right direction, as fairly, democratically elected MEPs have begun taking over decision-making powers from the undemocratic bureaucrats of the Commission.