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The EU is already far more democratic than the UK - see the house of lords, althought right now it is the sanest branch...

smileypete 8y ago
A Member of the European Parliament, working in one of the parliamentary committees, draws up a report on a proposal for a ‘legislative text’ presented by the European Commission, the only institution empowered to initiate legislation.... The European Parliament may approve or reject a legislative proposal, or propose amendments to it. The Council is not legally obliged to take account of Parliament’s opinion but in line with the case-law of the Court of Justice, it must not take a decision without having received it. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/powers-and-procedures/legislative-powers http://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/powers-and...
- jashmatthews 8y ago
  The Commission cannot create law alone and undemocratically. The European Commission drafts legislation and then the European Parliament decides whether or not to amend or pass the legislation.
- rcxdude 8y ago
  Keep in mind the European Commission is chosen largely by the heads of state of the various EU countries, and must be approved (and can be dismissed by) the european parliment. The EU parliment has most of the power and is democratically elected.
- jonathanstrange 8y ago
  The commissioners are chosen from the governments of the member states and then go through a complicated vetting and election process. To achieve such an indirect representative structure was actually one of the major goals of the UK together with other countries, in order to limit the power the EU has over individual governments. Hence, this appointment system, which is additionally kept in check by the European Parliament whose members are elected directly by the voters from all member states. You could complain that it's too representative, but not that it's not democratic. The alternative of giving the European Parliament more power and let it constitute a "European Government" directly has not been found appealing by the governments of its member states, particularly not by the UK, since they do not want to give away so much of their sovereignty. Complaining about lack of democracy in the EU while at the same time complaining about lack of national sovereignty is perhaps the most hypocritical and intentionally misleading part of the current populist agenda.
desertedisland 8y ago
Turnout for EU elections runs less than 30% in the UK: nobody here knows who's in it, what they do or how they got there. Oh I know you'll tell me of the ignorance and stupidity of the racist, little England British voter and how they need to be 're-educated' but this is hardly a mandate from the people is it?
- pjc50 8y ago
  > nobody here knows who's in it, what they do or how they got there. > ignorance People can't be proud of not knowing about the EU and complain about being called ignorant at the same time. (Quite a lot of this is misinformation, frankly - the Mail and the Express run hilariously biased anti-EU campaigns on their front pages.)
- hkt 8y ago
  When there was a five way debate on who would be next leader of the commission, millions around Europe watched. In the UK? We put it on BBC parliament and it was not advertised. Our media are at least partly to blame, tolerating "opinions" on matters of fact and minimising our real exposure to actual things the EU does.

smileypete 8y ago

A Member of the European Parliament, working in one of the parliamentary committees, draws up a report on a proposal for a ‘legislative text’ presented by the European Commission, the only institution empowered to initiate legislation.... The European Parliament may approve or reject a legislative proposal, or propose amendments to it. The Council is not legally obliged to take account of Parliament’s opinion but in line with the case-law of the Court of Justice, it must not take a decision without having received it. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/powers-and-procedures/legislative-powers http://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/powers-and...

jashmatthews 8y ago
The Commission cannot create law alone and undemocratically. The European Commission drafts legislation and then the European Parliament decides whether or not to amend or pass the legislation.
rcxdude 8y ago
Keep in mind the European Commission is chosen largely by the heads of state of the various EU countries, and must be approved (and can be dismissed by) the european parliment. The EU parliment has most of the power and is democratically elected.
jonathanstrange 8y ago
The commissioners are chosen from the governments of the member states and then go through a complicated vetting and election process. To achieve such an indirect representative structure was actually one of the major goals of the UK together with other countries, in order to limit the power the EU has over individual governments. Hence, this appointment system, which is additionally kept in check by the European Parliament whose members are elected directly by the voters from all member states. You could complain that it's too representative, but not that it's not democratic. The alternative of giving the European Parliament more power and let it constitute a "European Government" directly has not been found appealing by the governments of its member states, particularly not by the UK, since they do not want to give away so much of their sovereignty. Complaining about lack of democracy in the EU while at the same time complaining about lack of national sovereignty is perhaps the most hypocritical and intentionally misleading part of the current populist agenda.

desertedisland 8y ago

Turnout for EU elections runs less than 30% in the UK: nobody here knows who's in it, what they do or how they got there. Oh I know you'll tell me of the ignorance and stupidity of the racist, little England British voter and how they need to be 're-educated' but this is hardly a mandate from the people is it?

pjc50 8y ago
> nobody here knows who's in it, what they do or how they got there. > ignorance People can't be proud of not knowing about the EU and complain about being called ignorant at the same time. (Quite a lot of this is misinformation, frankly - the Mail and the Express run hilariously biased anti-EU campaigns on their front pages.)
hkt 8y ago
When there was a five way debate on who would be next leader of the commission, millions around Europe watched. In the UK? We put it on BBC parliament and it was not advertised. Our media are at least partly to blame, tolerating "opinions" on matters of fact and minimising our real exposure to actual things the EU does.