When countries grow together, different nationalities come closer, cultures respect each other and can live together, this is desirable and worthy of support.

Creating a bureaucratic, Babylonian-chaotic translation complex with free borders and a free economy does not constitute growing together. The current EU is suffering from the hope that jointly binding rules with a common currency would lead to greater understanding and unity in the long term.

What the British have anticipated with their Brexit threatens the entire EU in the medium term. Disintegration, members leaving due to lack of interest, economic upheaval and permanent crisis.

This does not necessarily have to be the case, but it will inevitably happen if the EU in its current form is not radically changed towards a common European understanding and away from the interests of individual states, tied into ever more restrictive bureaucratic rules.

A united Europe must be shaped by the citizens of all participating countries and not by political elites who send their desired representatives and who have never been confirmed by the electorate. Europe’s democratic legitimacy suffers just as much as the individual local democratic systems do.

A democracy is an evolving construct, not a rigid structure which, once designed, never needs to be improved. This is the main problem of modern democracies. A fundamental improvement of the inherent rules (e.g. the Basic Law) is hardly possible, but is absolutely necessary in a rapidly changing world.

The right to stand for election means that anyone of a certain age who is a German citizen and who has not been deprived of the right to vote due to political offenses may vote.

This minimum standard does not exclude retards, psychopaths and sociopaths, fanatics and zealots, as long as they have not committed a “political” offense. And the controls on delinquency are extremely lax. And this is precisely where the problem lies: with such a virtually non-existent standard, precisely those unsuitable people are attracted to politics who should never have become politicians in the first place.

A democracy can only function if it pushes the best people to make a contribution to society. And on the one hand, the best must be selected, so there must be an assessment standard that checks the prospective politicians for suitability and, on the other hand, the best must have a positive interest in serving society and their fellow human beings.

The standards to be applied could be determined by suitable scientific institutes on the one hand in feedback with a referendum on the other, so that the basis for filtering the suitable and the willing is laid democratically / professionally / scientifically.

The same should apply here: The higher the offices, the higher the standards that must be met. It is not enough to meet the minimum standards and then to have been a narcissist’s porter for 20 years in order to qualify for a high state office.

Whether there are still willing people who meet the standards and at the same time are prepared to work for a symbolic salary (current salaries of parliamentarians can be regarded as symbolic) is a question of social esteem.

People who have built up a reputation through outstanding political work will certainly be able to monetize this reputation after their political career. And whether this would be the only motivating factor remains to be seen.

If, as expected, no suitable candidates for political office can be found, either due to a lack of qualifications or a lack of pecuniary motivation, the result without representatives could not be worse than in the modern Berlin Republic, in which blind actionism does more harm to society than inaction ever could.

Order is half the battle, as the saying goes. Organization is the whole of life, is the doctrine of current politics.

• Regulatory frenzy
• Overregulation
• Minor case specifications
• Individual justice
• Sanction allocation

All this and much more is an active part of the bureaucracy of a united Europe. If Europe were actually united as a result, this would be a small price to pay. Only the price is paid without receiving anything in return.

This does not make Europe more united, more understanding or even more united. It is only the rules that apply in all EU states, which the countries must adhere to, that provide a similar, sometimes meaningless, legal framework. But that doesn’t make for tolerant and positive coexistence.

Each country suffers individually from the excessive bureaucratic structures that apply to all of them. This shows once again that “more of the same” does not necessarily lead to a solution to the problem, and is in fact the problem.

Structures should be made for the people and simplify and improve cooperation and be designed in a way that benefits the majority. Fundamental structural reforms are needed here, even a new beginning, so that the achievements of the modern world can be used safely and helpfully.

Individual justice is an illusion whose absence must not lead to arbitrariness, but there must be ways that are understandable, acceptable and practicable for all members of society and yet are not “just” for everyone.