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I'm not sure that understanding how the EU Commission and Parliament relate to each other will help convince people the EU is democractic. In particular, the pr
by makomk 8y ago
I'm not sure that understanding how the EU Commission and Parliament relate to each other will help convince people the EU is democractic. In particular, the president of the European Commission is currently chosen by some really weird ostensibly-democratic insider political trading: https://www.politico.eu/article/spitzenkandidat-jean-claude-juncker-race-with-no-rules-eu-leaders-brace-for-clash-over-2019-elections/ https://www.politico.eu/article/spitzenkandidat-jean-claude-...
- jnurmine 8y agoWell, again, the directly voted European Parliament 1. elects the President of the Commission, 2. acks/nacks the contents of the Commission and 3. can force the Commission to resign. I mean, it's not like a wink, wink, handshake and some random person gets installed just like that as the President of the European Commission. The Parliament really has to approve the person, whoever it is and however the person is found.
- cs02rm0 8y agoThat's fair, but it still strikes me as a democratically weaker system for it. Has the Parliament ever exercised their veto against a president?
- jnurmine 8y agoNo. The closest was in 1999, when the Commission lead by Jacques Santer dropped out voluntarily before the Parliament forced them to go.