Plenel, Habermas, and the Treaty Formerly Known as "Merkozy"

François Hollande has had a fairly free ride up to now. He has avoided public splashes, and criticism has been mainly muted, except for the occasional tantrum on the Right. But now, from the left side of the spectrum, comes Edwy Plenel, editor of Mediapart, to remind Hollande that he had promised to "renegotiate" the "golden rule," that is, the treaty formerly known as "Merkozy," but is now content to avail himself of the Constitutional Court decision that no ratification or constitutional inscription is needed to swallow the treaty's terms as if they were not in binding (and in fact they are not very binding, as the wording of the pact leaves enormous loopholes). But for Plenel, who cites Habermas in support of his position, Hollande's complacency marks another step in the drift toward a "post-democratic" Europe, in which national electorates are supposed to acquiesce in the irrevocable decisions of technocrats censés savoir:

Ferme partisan du Traité constitutionnel européen (TCE) en 2005, Habermas s’est alarmé en octobre 2011 de l’avènement européen d’une « domination post-démocratique » dont le pacte budgétaire alors en cours d’élaboration serait l’instrument. « Un tel régime, expliquait-il (lire ici la traduction française),permettrait de transférer les impératifs des marchés aux budgets nationaux sans aucune légitimation démocratique propre. Les chefs de gouvernement transformeraient de la sorte le projet européen en son contraire : la première communauté supranationale démocratiquement légalisée deviendrait un arrangement effectif, parce que voilé, d’exercice d’une domination post-démocratique ». « Le joli mot de “gouvernance” n’est qu’un euphémisme pour désigner une forme dure de domination politique », ajoutait-il dans un entretien postérieur.

I expect this discussion to become more heated at the rentrée.