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In general, the way the EU works is that the European Commission have the right to start all legislation. Then, in order for the legislation to pass, it has to
by Brakenshire 11y ago
In general, the way the EU works is that the European Commission have the right to start all legislation. Then, in order for the legislation to pass, it has to be approved by the European Parliament (which is directly elected) and the European Council (representatives of the national governments).
What has happened here is the European Commission have scrapped legislation that was working its way through its internal mechanisms, before it was formally proposed and handed off to the Parliament.
The Commission holds enormous power, and has traditionally has been an apolitical civil service, but recently there has been a movement towards its leader being elected by the Parliament. But this has only happened a handful of times, and the President of the Commission has never been removed from his position by the Parliament. I'm not even sure if such a procedure exists.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago> But this has only happened a handful of times, and the President of the Commission has never been removed from his position by the Parliament. I'm not even sure if such a procedure exists. If the Santer Commission hadn't resigned, the Parliament was going to force them to.
- Brakenshire 11y agoI didn't know about that, thanks for the pointer. So there is something called a 'motion of censure', which can force the Commission to resign.
- based2 11y agohttp://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=RULES-EP&reference=20140701&secondRef=RULE-119&format=XML&language=EN http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=RULES-EP&...
- based2 11y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santer_Commission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santer_Commission