The UK has an entirely different governmental structure than the EU, so comparing why someone votes for an MEP v.s. UK MP makes no sense. Of course MEPs are go

The UK has an entirely different governmental structure than the EU, so comparing why someone votes for an MEP v.s. UK MP makes no sense. Of course MEPs are going to need to consider the EU as a whole, because in order to advance the goals of their constituencies they need to cooperate with the MEPs representing everyone else (and other EU institutions). But expecting that you can ban MEPs from being a product of national politics or national political branding would be folly and undemocratic. That's what the EP is for, it's there to represent voting blocks within the nation-states that make up the EU, MEPs are explicitly not voted for across national boundaries. Targeting MEPs to solve a perceived "democratic deficit" in the EU seems bizarre. They're the only directly elected institution, and they're the most locally accountable EU representatives or institution. It seems to me what you'd like to accomplish here would be better solved by making the 28 members of the Commission directly elected across national boundaries by the entirety of EU citizens.