Defining personalities in institutions of the EU

Who are the defining personalities? Who are the ones that say what is going to happen in Europe and even in some other parts of the world?

Is it José Barroso? José Zapatero? Herman van Rompuy?

Those politicians are surely the most visible persons, but are they actually in charge? I mean, like, really?

No, there are other people, and I don't mean ministers and heads of states, there are literally tens of thousands of people, who really build Europe. They are not us, they the ones that form the bureaucratic machinery behind all of this. They run the Europe, they are in charge, they advise the politicians, they are themselves advised by others, but they themselves remain hidden and anonymous.

It starts with the European parliament – in the Czech Republic we have twenty two politicians out there. Some of them used to be quite famous, everybody knew what they were doing, but that was before they were elected. Now, they are flying under the radar and remain silent. Nearly no media coverage, only few reports. Yes, it is not so bad, you can get at least some info on what are for example Tošenovský or Zahradil doing if you want. You won't learn about any bribes and lobbying, but that doesn't really matter. Members of the parliament are seen at least once a year. Moreover, they were elected, which means we can put anyone else at their positions if something bad shows up.

But they are just the top of the iceberg, what about the others?

There are endless rows of office rats below them. Hidden, they pass on laws, they decide on restrictions, they can do anything they want. Heck, they can even start a war!

Wait, didn't this already happen?

Welcome to the machine!

During this seminar, we were in Bonn and we visited a lecture about the UN there – I know UN isn't EU, but it is similar. A man was standing in front of us, talking about nearly any unimportant or well known event which has happened in the last fifty years. Because of this, he didn't get to the more interesting parts, not even in the Q&A part of the talk, but that's not the point. He mentioned the sources of funding of the UN – he was speaking about billions of dollars as if they were just a tip you leave at the bar. Thousands of employees are just in Bonn, others are in New York or just scattered around the globe, and again, they are unseen and unheard of. Why? What are all these people actually doing? They surely have much power – they have access both to the resources and to the VIPs of the world; presidents and generals – but, again, how do they use it?

It is like a black box, like a room without windows. Inside lies a cat, both dead and alive and ready to bite you if you break the lock and dare to look inside.

Where is the crowbar?