The rule of law is not against democracy, it is the other way round: courts protect people and democracy from unlawful actions. In democracies (with all four pillars of power intact), no politician and no criminal stands above the law, even if those play their usual “victim” role, when caught.

If politicians do not want to be convicted by court, they should not break the law. Seems to be a simple rule to follow.

This statement is total nonsense!

In 1995 we boycotted Shell for environmental reasons and it worked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spar

Towing of the platform to its final position began on 11 June. By this time, the call for a boycott of Shell products was being heeded across much of continental northern Europe, damaging Shell’s profitability as well as brand image. […]

On 20 June, Shell had decided that their position was no longer tenable, and withdrew their plan to sink the Brent Spar […]

So it needed more than a week of concerted boycott action to bring big business into trouble, but not unlimited boycott.

An alternative was Paydirekt (Giropay) supported by my German bank. But while it worked quite fine, there where only very few supported sites (shops), for international payment it was more or less useless and end of last year 2024 the service has been discontinued.

It is frustrating to learn that from your experience Wero is also no good alternative for PP. Do you think there is anything we can do to persuade our banks that we want a different, better Wero? I have not so much hope for mine, but would be willing to use any serious EU bank providing a good PP alternative, which can be used worldwide.

PS: If such discussion should not be wanted in /c/europe, it could be a good fit for [email protected]