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In what way are EU's institutions remotely democratic? The only one that is actually elected is the EU parliament, which has little actual power and exists only

by nicky0 6y ago

In what way are EU's institutions remotely democratic? The only one that is actually elected is the EU parliament, which has little actual power and exists only as a (very expensive) fig leaf of democracy. We can argue about how good a job the British government is doing but at least it is directly democratically accountable to the British public.

dijit 6y ago
This is so profoundly stupid of an opinion that I am having difficulty engaging in it properly. Are you aware of the House of Lords? Did you know that the European Commission is elected by our representatives in the EU parliament? Did you know that the speaker of the house in the UK will not have his seat contested? In fact he won’t serve his constituency at all and they will be left without an acting MP of any kind. How democratic is that? Taxation without representation- from the House of Commons no less. You can’t sit there with a straight face and tell me our representative democracy with an unelected (and sometimes hereditary) upper house of peers and enacted through monarchy is /more/ democratic than what is considered the most modern and fair functioning government the world has ever seen. Just because you don’t bother to turn up to vote doesn’t mean it’s not democratic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_legitimacy_of_the_European_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_legitimacy_of_the_E...
- iamstupidsimple 6y ago
  My take on it is this: The more layers removed an average voter is from an election, the more anti-democratic. Voting for MPs who vote for EU parliament representatives who vote for commission members is too far for me. One effect of this: elites always vote for other elites. There have definitely been many MPs who come from a working-class background, but that is impossible in the EU because normal voters aren't able to put those people in power. Basically, if I (or the other common man) do not have a direct vote on someone in power, then we are in an anti-democratic system.
  - dijit 6y ago
    How does that view jive with the fact that Farage is one of the first people elected to the EU parliament but his party has never held a seat in the UK despite having 12.5 of the vote. A democratic system allows proportional representation of views, as it stood if you supported UKIP you were not represented at all in government. (Not saying that I like UKIP. But it’s a failing of our democracy that is notable.)

by nicky0 6y ago

dijit 6y ago

This is so profoundly stupid of an opinion that I am having difficulty engaging in it properly. Are you aware of the House of Lords? Did you know that the European Commission is elected by our representatives in the EU parliament? Did you know that the speaker of the house in the UK will not have his seat contested? In fact he won’t serve his constituency at all and they will be left without an acting MP of any kind. How democratic is that? Taxation without representation- from the House of Commons no less. You can’t sit there with a straight face and tell me our representative democracy with an unelected (and sometimes hereditary) upper house of peers and enacted through monarchy is /more/ democratic than what is considered the most modern and fair functioning government the world has ever seen. Just because you don’t bother to turn up to vote doesn’t mean it’s not democratic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_legitimacy_of_the_European_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_legitimacy_of_the_E...

iamstupidsimple 6y ago
My take on it is this: The more layers removed an average voter is from an election, the more anti-democratic. Voting for MPs who vote for EU parliament representatives who vote for commission members is too far for me. One effect of this: elites always vote for other elites. There have definitely been many MPs who come from a working-class background, but that is impossible in the EU because normal voters aren't able to put those people in power. Basically, if I (or the other common man) do not have a direct vote on someone in power, then we are in an anti-democratic system.
- dijit 6y ago
  How does that view jive with the fact that Farage is one of the first people elected to the EU parliament but his party has never held a seat in the UK despite having 12.5 of the vote. A democratic system allows proportional representation of views, as it stood if you supported UKIP you were not represented at all in government. (Not saying that I like UKIP. But it’s a failing of our democracy that is notable.)