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Who is not democratically elected? The EU Parliament is directly elected. The EU Council is comprised of EU country head of states, which are all directly elec

• nwellnhof 1y ago
  The EU Parliament is not democratically elected because votes from member states have a different weight. The election is free but not fair. It's also one of the few parliaments that can't propose laws on their own but can only veto laws proposed by the EU Commission. The powerful EU Commission being appointed by governments (and again only approved by the Parliament) is a form of executive federalism. This makes the chain of legitimacy longer and longer which is hardly positive for democracy.
  • rini17 1y ago
    In the US, votes in the congress, senate and president have exactly equal weights between states? Not an expert but I suspect we're in the kettle-pot area here. Not even getting into abysmal voting procedure/implementation which would be inconceivable in the EU.
  • PunchTornado 1y ago
    in most contries votes have different weights. look at the US, or other western countries where minorities for example are boosted to be represented in the parliament. judging by this no country is democratic.
  • Sammi 1y ago
    Small states are usually given more weight in parliament. This is commonly considered more democratic. The commission is elected by the parliament. This is democratic. Would it be an improvement if parliament could propose laws and commission members. Maybe. But saying that this makes the EU undemocratic is unreasonable.
• raxxorraxor 1y ago
  To you it may be democratic enough. Not for me and the parliament lacks legislative initiative which in reality means the commission steers the ship. It is more of a bureaucratic technocracy with democratic fig leaves. People often attribute competence to technocracies, but that is an illusion. Also I don't believe you can move up government function to layers above your national government and still call it representative. In reality the culture and circumstances of parliament members is too far removed from the voters. I also cannot know the other representatives, so my voting decision will always be restricted to a shallow popularity contest. But as explained, this doesn't matter, because the elected representatives cannot implement any agenda.
  • _w1tm 1y ago
    > In reality the culture and circumstances of parliament members is too far removed from the voters. I also cannot know the other representatives, so my voting decision will always be restricted to a shallow popularity contest. But as explained, this doesn't matter, because the elected representatives cannot implement any agenda. That’s an odd thing to say when there is a real chance of the commission failing a confidence vote this week. We might end up with a new commission due to the conservatives colluding with the far right to abandon the climate agenda entirely. This is a very concrete consequence of the voters electing right-wing parliamentarians.
    • Sammi 1y ago
      Seriously the commission works at the mercy of the parliament, not the other way around.