5 ms·

How do you define the EU exactly?

by baxtr 6y ago

ginko 6y ago
The EU is a union of countries. It's the entire body including all its citizens. There's several governing bodies within the EU and people should understand the political process within it and be specific. How often do you see Americans blaming the USA for some new legislation?
- soco 6y ago
  I have the feeling that some EU citizens aren't exactly aware that THEY are the EU, and listen instead to antagonizing outsider stories (Sputnik, whatever you name it). There were EU elections last year and the measures taken today are drafted by those people elected one year ago. Same for the council members - they were voted in the respective national elections. Next time folks pay better attention when you vote. Or whether you vote.
  - fogihujy 6y ago
    The resolution was made by the EU Council, not the parliament. The EU Council is not voted upon as such, and it consists of the heads of state/government from all member states. Once this reaches the parliament, on the other hand, there will be a lot of concerned citizens contacting members of parliament in order to voice their opinion.
    - soco 6y ago
      You must agree that the heads of state/governments get there following democratic elections, thus directly influenced by the voters of respective countries. In Europe at least. So the same popular influence is still there, just via a different channel.
      - fogihujy 6y ago
        Definitely. However, depending on where you live, the head of state/government may very well have gotten ~20% of the local votes, and their politics may therefore be without majority backing. The EU parliament is a different story though, and if your representatives (assuming they got enough votes to get in, of course), can be held directly accountable for how they cast their votes. The prime minister/president, on the other hand, might not have gotten your vote to begin with.
        soco 6y ago
        I'm not sure I get your point. S/he definitely got somebody's vote to get there, if not mine then of the other folks across the street.
        fogihujy 6y ago
        I was replying to a post saying that EU voters should be more careful about whom they vote for. I'm saying that the EU voters aren't under direct control over how the council is formed, and so it's more important to apply pressure to MEP's in the European Parliament rather than trying to do something about the council. It's the parliament's job after all...
modo_mario 6y ago
The issue is that "the EU" is not a homogenous block and so the parliament and/or commission can be against this. In this scenario it's national governments working trough the EU so some will call that EU and others not. These same differences are a thing in other very important scenarios like during the Greek financial crisis where a lot of people in parliament or the commission might've seen that the short term pain is what needed to happen or even before that urged to get a banking union but the ECB is dominated by it's national counterparts who all tried to lose the least and thus lose more as a whole. Which can make it all seem very schizophrenic and makes it so you can claim it's good or bad depending on which voices to listen to. At the end of the day tho it's mostly the national governments that held the rains there but here the parliament can simply block this.
- Vinnl 6y ago
  Additionally, the Council sets the general direction, but the Commission is the body that would actually need to propose legislation, and the Parliament then needs to approve it, AFAIK. The Council (i.e. the leaders of the national governments) meet at least four times a year, whereas the Commission is more akin to a regular government (but for the EU) and the Parliament with a regular parliament (but for the EU).

How do you define the EU exactly?

by baxtr 6y ago

How do you define the EU exactly?

The EU is a union of countries. It's the entire body including all its citizens. There's several governing bodies within the EU and people should understand the political process within it and be specific. How often do you see Americans blaming the USA for some new legislation?

soco 6y ago
I have the feeling that some EU citizens aren't exactly aware that THEY are the EU, and listen instead to antagonizing outsider stories (Sputnik, whatever you name it). There were EU elections last year and the measures taken today are drafted by those people elected one year ago. Same for the council members - they were voted in the respective national elections. Next time folks pay better attention when you vote. Or whether you vote.
- fogihujy 6y ago
  The resolution was made by the EU Council, not the parliament. The EU Council is not voted upon as such, and it consists of the heads of state/government from all member states. Once this reaches the parliament, on the other hand, there will be a lot of concerned citizens contacting members of parliament in order to voice their opinion.
  - soco 6y ago
    You must agree that the heads of state/governments get there following democratic elections, thus directly influenced by the voters of respective countries. In Europe at least. So the same popular influence is still there, just via a different channel.
    - fogihujy 6y ago
      Definitely. However, depending on where you live, the head of state/government may very well have gotten ~20% of the local votes, and their politics may therefore be without majority backing. The EU parliament is a different story though, and if your representatives (assuming they got enough votes to get in, of course), can be held directly accountable for how they cast their votes. The prime minister/president, on the other hand, might not have gotten your vote to begin with.
      - soco 6y ago
        I'm not sure I get your point. S/he definitely got somebody's vote to get there, if not mine then of the other folks across the street.
        fogihujy 6y ago
        I was replying to a post saying that EU voters should be more careful about whom they vote for. I'm saying that the EU voters aren't under direct control over how the council is formed, and so it's more important to apply pressure to MEP's in the European Parliament rather than trying to do something about the council. It's the parliament's job after all...

modo_mario 6y ago

The issue is that "the EU" is not a homogenous block and so the parliament and/or commission can be against this. In this scenario it's national governments working trough the EU so some will call that EU and others not. These same differences are a thing in other very important scenarios like during the Greek financial crisis where a lot of people in parliament or the commission might've seen that the short term pain is what needed to happen or even before that urged to get a banking union but the ECB is dominated by it's national counterparts who all tried to lose the least and thus lose more as a whole. Which can make it all seem very schizophrenic and makes it so you can claim it's good or bad depending on which voices to listen to. At the end of the day tho it's mostly the national governments that held the rains there but here the parliament can simply block this.

Vinnl 6y ago
Additionally, the Council sets the general direction, but the Commission is the body that would actually need to propose legislation, and the Parliament then needs to approve it, AFAIK. The Council (i.e. the leaders of the national governments) meet at least four times a year, whereas the Commission is more akin to a regular government (but for the EU) and the Parliament with a regular parliament (but for the EU).