28 nation bloc, or is it?

I’m sitting here, hot chocolate in hand and watching Sky News.

Something interesting caught my ear. I’m trying to find the exact source but basically along the lines of …

French president Francios Hollande and Angela Merkel have had a half hour long phone conversation and have decided the way forward with regards to the UK exiting the EU.

What irritates me about this, which by the way were commonplace during the Grexit crisis, is that this is meant to be a 28 nation bloc. There is meant to be a democratic process within the institution itself. How is it that within an organization of 28 countries, two big players have a phone call and make a decision.

Where are the other nations?

It pains me to see this, as the EU has a number of good qualities, but events like this makes it feel like the other countries are second class citizens. The club clearly has a core group.

Earlier today and yesterday both Francois Hollande and Jean Claude Juncker have said that Britian needs to trigger Article 50 ASAP.

Is this a sign of the usual ‘bullying’ starting?

Legally the referendum is an instruction to parliament. The EU council has no right to force UK to start the process, especially given the political instability that needs to be sorted out first. Forcing the UK to start Article 50 before a firm government ready for negotiations is in place just demolishes any chance for the UK to walk away with a good deal.

Doesn’t feel too democratic to me.