Somehow, it seems like European Commissioners live in their own world that doesn't seem to operate according to the same rules as that which ordinary people live in.
It has been particularly apparent for some while that Commission President José Manuel Barroso inhabits some sort of parallel universe. He shows no sign of returning to the real world, judging by his recent comments during a visit to Athens on Wednesday to make the start of the Greek EU presidency. He declared that 2014 would be the year the eurozone finally put the worst behind it. Has he looked at the latest inflation figures? In Greece, deflation has entered its ninth month. Latvia and Cyprus are also stuck in deflation, with his own country of Portugal recently joining the club. Has he looked at the unemployment figures? Youth unemployment hit a record 57.5% in Spain in November. The figure for Greece is even worse. Were it not for so many young Greeks, Spaniards and Portuguese joining their Eastern European counterparts and relocating to countries like the UK, these figures would be even more dire. Has he considered that bank lending to businesses across the Eurozone fell by 3.7% in the year to November, and this decline is actually steepening? I doubt if he bothers to read the monthly bulletins from the European Central Bank, or he would not be coming out with such nonsense. On the other hand, perhaps he does, but doesn't understand them.
Anyway, he seems to have some company in his parallel universe in the shape of the Commission Vice-President Vivianne Reding. Concerned about the rise of Eurosceptic parties across the EU, she has come up with a solution - more Europe! The best weapon against euroscepticism was, she claimed, a campaign for a United States of Europe with the Commission turning into the upper tier of the legislature, rather like the US Senate, with the powers of national parliaments reduced to that of local government and the European Council relegated to a consultative role only.
All this would be laughable were this silly woman not being paid a six-figure salary and regarded as an important person. All she is doing is repeating the same failed formula that voters across the EU are increasingly turning their backs on. Somehow, European Commissioners seem to think that if you say "more Europe is the answer" enough times, people will start to believe them. Sadly (for them, at least), this flies in the face of the reality of the last 10 years. The French and Dutch "No" votes in the referendums on the European Constitution were the first indications of a widespread disillusion with the European project, and if Mrs Reding had bothered to look at the "Eurobarometer" statistics which the EU itself produces, she would have discovered that disillusion has only increased since those days. The latest survey reveals that only 31% of citizens have trust in the EU compared with 57% before the financial crisis broke. Who can blame them, when the EU leadership live so far removed from day-to-day realities?
"This debate is moving into the decisive phase now, " said Mrs Reding. "In a little more than four months' time, citizens across Europe will be able to choose the Europe they want to live in." Well, Mrs Reding, you may not like to hear this in your ivory tower in Brussels, but very few of them want the same sort of Europe as you do. They've already figured out that it doesn't work.