He meant there have been changes without a general election. And it wasn't a comment on the UK being a presidential system but (likely) rather a comment on my s

He meant there have been changes without a general election. And it wasn't a comment on the UK being a presidential system but (likely) rather a comment on my second point in the comment above, that point being that in Italy we're more used to having governments change without having to contend a general election I do want to say however that this argument about the double election you make doesn't really hold much water in my opinion. It is obvious that the UK institutions have a more developed democratic tradition than the EU ones But they do not lay in the PM having to be an MP nor in the parties using a primary to choose their leaders An MP is elected on the basis of their constituents thinking they'll do a good job as their representative, not as a way to find the most capable person in the country to be PM, so it's not a relevant election to gain legitimacy as PM, in the same way UvdL being an MP in the bundestag for 10 years prior to becoming commission president doesn't improve her legitimacy as EC president As for the party vote, that is a good system and I do wish they'd gone with the spitzenkandidaten (more so we could stop having this conversation than any practical reason or love for Weber), but in this case it'd have been more undemocratic, not less Weber, much less Timmermans or the Renew people, had no outright majority in the parliament and no majority in the Council, and the council has its own legitimacy even if its made up of (mostly) indirectly elected individuals. Members of the EUCO have more visibility and their actions are under much greater expectations of representing popular will than any single MP or MEP I fail to see the democratic appeal of a majority of voters (whose MEPs and leaders didn't think Weber was a good fit) having their voices ignored because Weber won a vote within a private organization But that might also be because where I'm from the expectation is for government to represent a majority rather than a plurality > "vote" in the EU Parliament but she was the only candidate who was on the list, so "winning" only meant reaching the quorum threshold. I was under the impression you were from the UK, so I apologize if I assumed familiarity with the parliamentary system in my comments above In parliamentary systems (which the EU kinda is with some differences) after an election the Head of State consults with the parties to find who would be able to form a government and then once it reaches a decision the individual in question asks Parliament for their confidence and if parliament gives it (so a majority votes yes) then they are "elected" In the EU's case the only peculiarity is that instead of the Head of State being an individual it's the European Council acting by QMV Even after reaching the quorum if a majority in parliament had voted No to UvdL she wouldn't be Comission president