In most countries ministers are indeed elected. They had to win an election to get into the Parliament in the first place. And then they had to be selected by s

In most countries ministers are indeed elected. They had to win an election to get into the Parliament in the first place. And then they had to be selected by someone who won the party leadership contest. I don't think there are any European countries where nobody can explain where the President came from or how they got into power. But in the EU, that's the case. Nobody can explain how someone as manifestly unsuited as von der Leyen ended up President, except via reductive arguments like "some people went into a room, and when they came out, it had been decided". Additionally, cabinet ministers usually come from a party with a coherent agenda, and that agenda is at least somewhat connected to what a people in a specific locality wanted. The Commissioners come from all over the place, from a mix of political backgrounds and cultures, and they literally aren't allowed to advocate for their country. So the Commission is very much not like ministers or a cabinet in general.