It is very arguable that the EU is more democratic than the UK, and this is clear to anyone that knows the actual constitutions of both the EU and the UK. It's also weird to be flippant in relation to an unelected President, when Brown and May were unelected. Anyhow, I will demonstrate an argument for the superior democratic nature of the EU by comparing the constitutional compositions, legal processes and political representation. Enjoy.
The legislative constitutional bodies of the EU are: the EU Parliament, Council of the EU, EU Commission and the Council of Ministers. The EU Parliament is directly elected by the citizens across the EU (we elect our MEPs). The Council of the EU’s composition is not fixed - it is composed of government ministers representing their respective departments in accordance with what area of law is at hand. For example, we'd send Amber Rudd to any matter that concerns environmental policy. Thus, our representative is usually the top elected official in their field. The Council of Ministers is composed of the elected head of state from each country (because our head of state is an unelected queen, David Cameron goes instead). The EU Commission is not elected by us. Rather, the Council elects the President of the Commission, with the Council of Ministers appointing the remaining members in conjunction with the Commission’s president.
The Council of Ministers meets every 4 years (should be more frequent) to set out the general principles and direction of the EU. They can make proposals to the EU Commission to examine certain areas and recommend initiating the legislative procedure where necessary.
The one undemocratic aspect of the EU concerns the EU Commission. The Commission has the sole power to propose law, whether recommended by the Council of Ministers or not. However, they cannot (save for very exceptional circumstances, comparable to British Executive Orders) pass law.
The vast majority of law is passed through the “ordinary legislative procedure”. Depending on the area of law, the Commission will consult (Europe wide) with experts and practitioners in the relevant field, local authorities, NGOs and societal representatives. Individual citizens, businesses and other organisations can get involved in this process by visiting
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/consultations/index_en.htmSubsequently, the Commission then sends their proposed law to the EU Parliament and Council of the EU, who amend, approve or reject the law. If they cannot agree on amendments, it goes to a Second Reading. If they cannot agree amendments at this stage, the directly elected EU Parliament can block the legislation. Alternatively, a “conciliation committee” may be called to try and facilitate an agreement. However, if none can be found, both the EU Parliament or the elected Council of the EU can block the legislation. Simply put, only an agreement between directly elected officials can lead to the passing of law. The Commission cannot block the will of the elected officials. This is clearly a democratic process, although it has its deficit (the EU Commission).
Compare this to the UK system, which is formed of lower and upper houses. Its head of state is a monarchy! A monarchy that is vocal in its will at Privy Council meetings, and privately lobbies the government to impose its own will, and then tries to hide it from the public (the black spider memos is a recent example). A monarchy which has huge international political influence, be it as a trade envoy (Prince Andrew) or as some old bigoted tosser we send to seemingly ruin international relations (Prince Phillip).
I won't go into great detail here, as you probably already know. The House of Commons is directly elected. The House of Lords is completely unelected. It is the only unelected upper house that is larger than the elected lower house (in the world)! By the same token, it is also the largest unelected chamber in the Western world. It is formed by the PM recommending peerages to the queen and is, thus, a house of cronyism. It is a system which allows people like Andrew Lloyd Webber to decide on the future of this country.
Both houses can propose primary and secondary legislation (as can private entities, on rare occasions). After three readings (if de facto necessary) and, if consensus is lacking between the two house, primary and secondary legislation can go back and forth between the two houses until an agreement is reached. For certain primary legislation, the House of Commons has the power to neglect the consent of the Lords, subject to the Lords’ delaying power of one year. However, or secondary legislation, the unelected chamber of the House of Lords can veto legislation, and block the Commons from utilising their mandate (tax credits is a recent example).
Thus, the unelected House of Lords has the power to propose, amend, delay and, if secondary legislation, block law. This unaccountable, unelected power is far greater than the EU Commission's. Its saving grace is that it does not possess the sole power to propose law (most proposed laws come from the government).
Law aside, there is a lot to say when one compares democratic representation in the EU and UK. The EU has a proportional electoral system, the UK has a first-past-the-post system. The difference in democratic fairness is large:
- 2015 UK general election, Tories won 36.9% of the vote share and got 331 seats. Greens and UKIP won 16.4% and got 2 seats. Massively unrepresentative.
- 2014 European Parliament election, UKIP won 26.6% of the vote share and got 24 seats. Labour won 24.4% of the vote share and got 20 seats. Tories won 23.1% of the vote share and got 19 seats. Proportional and representative.
The UK has 73 seats in the EU Parliament, which constitutes 9.7% of the total. Thus, we have 1/10 power in an institution with 28 countries. Our seemingly extra power is due to degressive proportionality, which stipulates representation should be based on population size. Our population is roughly 12.6% of the EU. This 3 percent deficit between population size and representation is prevalent in all 4 major EU states (Germany, UK, France and Italy). With fluid population size in mind, that's impressively representative.