The EU Commission. Chillingly undemocratic.

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What is so undemocratic about all the countries in Europe having a voice?

The clue is in the word democratic. The two root words are kratos - power and demos - people. The idea that every nation should have equal voice regardless of population is not democratic at all. If the UK broke up and all its constituent parts were admitted into the EU its power would instantly quadruple under that system. Independence for the English regions and you have 12 times the power. (and still all the created states would be more populous than 4 current EU members) All without any more or less people. The possession of a flag does not provide a mandate to govern. A system which takes no account of the number of people is not a democracy.

Reply 61

chrisawhitmore

Original post by gladders

Not true.

Care to expand on that? There are 27 commissioners, one from each member state, and there are obvious overlaps between the portfolios. Members and their portfolios are listed here.
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/

Reply 62

chrisawhitmore

Original post by EllaService

If you read political diaries from the last govt, like those of Chris Mullin or Alistair Campbell, you see loads of examples of ministers just waving through civil service policies, barely considering the effects. Often these are stupid policies, badly thought-through and lacking in common sense. The old-fashioned view that our civil servants are the best and brightest is nonsense, unless, depressingly, they really are the best and brightest Oxbridge has to offer, in which case you despair of policy being left in their hands.

Yes but the ministers and others can write policies should they choose to. Often they don't in the UK, but MEPs can't propose legislation at all. They can only say yes or no to Commission proposals.

Reply 63

EllaService

Original post by chrisawhitmore

Yes but the ministers and others can write policies should they choose to. Often they don't in the UK, but MEPs can't propose legislation at all. They can only say yes or no to Commission proposals.

That's true, but as they now can veto the budget and budget elements, the Commission in reality must win their approval in advance. However, you are at least raising points that exist in the real world now and not just in your imagination.

Reply 64

gladders

Original post by chrisawhitmore

Hmm, I was sure the Lisbon Treaty had altered the Commission's composition so that it worked on a rotating basis, meaning on occasion countries would not have a Commissioner. I guess that was actually killed. My bad :smile:

Reply 65

GerryAdams_

You do realise that a vote has to have at least 65% of the EU population backing it to pass? So the 8% figure is retarded

Reply 66

_Fergo

Holy crap. You people should seriously be stripped of your vote. If anything's against democracy, it's your blatant misinformation and arrogance.

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Reply 67

midnightice

Original post by _Fergo

Holy crap. You people should seriously be stripped of your vote. If anything's against democracy, it's your blatant misinformation and arrogance.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Spoken like a true eurocrat.

We are your masters, not your servants.

Reply 68

_Fergo

Original post by midnightice

Spoken like a true eurocrat.

We are your masters, not your servants.

Yeah, it's me being a eurocrat, not fools not having a clue on how the EU works (even at the very basic level).

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Reply 69

midnightbandit

Get an education, please The Commission is politically independent. The college of Commissioners take a vow and their decisions are not made in mind of their origin country, but European Union policy in general. The Commission is also limited in its power, with the ability to propose and enforce legislation but none to adopt it. That's in part, the European Parliament's responsibility. The European Parliament, on the other hand, is fully democratically representative and each country is given a number of seats based on their population, and the MEPs of each country is directly elected through domestic elections in each member state.Any questions?