The EU commission is not unchecked. Unelected governments (and instead appointed by the parlament) are the norm in most European states. Why on HN people feel entitled to make such comments? Is it a Krueger effect on politics?
Can you explain which unelected officials you are talking about specifically. How does the number of unelected officials differ from the national government of the UK?
In both cases there is a parliament where you vote for someone to represent your area. You cannot vote for anyone outside your area. In the EU your area is a country and in the UK your area is a smaller part of the country. If you live in Scotland, northen Ireland or Wales you are also governed by a different "country" with unelected officials.
Then you have the truly unelected members of government. Advisors and ministry beaurocrats and administrators.
I simply cannot wrap my head around how people can keep regurgitating this crap. All western democracies are full of "unelected" officials. The EU is not some special unelected body. You have your vote and you vote for a representative to represent your constituency. Stop spreading this nonsense.
Considering the head of the Commission and all the Commissioners are chosen by the governments of the EU nations and voted on by the Parliament this is a bit disingenuous.
It's a bit like saying that the UK in undemocratic because the civil service drafts the laws.
This has no bearing on the legitimacy of the EU. Members of the commission are selected by the democratically elected government of their respective countries.
People that downplay the democratic legitimacy of the EU really, truly, unequivocally do not understand what they are talking about or have a malicious intention.
"This opinion seems to be highly uninformed about how the EU and it's actual bodies work."
" the european commision and the council consist of either parties elected in the national elections"
For lambasting others as uninformed, you should check your facts first. The EU Commission is not made up of elected officials, moreover, the EU has no obligation whatsoever to follow the results of parliamentary elections.
The 'proportional' makeup of the assembly is irrelevant if they are mostly powerless - by far the most powerless legislative assembly in the free world.
" The way of elections in the EU is roughly the same as what happens in most if not all EU member states"
This is really not true. The leaders of various parties, their platforms etc. are all well known during the course of EU member state elections, moreover, EU member state legislative bodies have the power to sanction, remove the executive, and of course to actually legislate.
Edit: EU members states have some of the best and most representative democracies in the world, it's such a blatant contrast at the EU level, it's hard to forgive people for not seeing why things are the way they are.
The European Commission does whatever it wants and the EU parliament is powerless. The EC is unelected and they have shown countless times that they don't give two hoots about the people. The whole thing is absolutely undemocratic.
It is the government of your country that appoints their member for the Commission. If they appoint shitty ones blame them.
For example the current Finnish representative is Jyrki Katainen who is the previous prime minister and his party (Kokoomus) is still a member in the ruling coalition. Even though he probably isn't the most liked person anymore (his prime minister era didn't go that well) he is still well liked within his own party and they probably traded some minister seat for getting him into the Commission. Shit is politics like always but I wouldn't go as far as say that the EU is undemocratic.
Also the ability to speak English isn't that important in EU level. All the big EU institutions are in Luxembourg or Brussels which pretty much makes French and German the main languages. Still there is plenty of translators available when needed.
If Germany wants to keep sending Günther Oettinger as their Commissioner then the only people you can blame are Merkel and her party. Again democracy. If it matters to you make it a point in your elections. I know most people don't as in my experience most people don't have a clue how the EU works. Many of my friends think the Commissioners are just appointed by some elite instead of being each country sending their own just like the head of state is in the Council. Still you can't call a system undemocratic just because people choose not to engage in the process.
> No citizen ever voted for any of the commissioners that come up with these regulations.
So what?
Nobody ever voted for any US president too, if that's your concern.
Besides, commission is formed by delegates one for each country and they are not bound to the political institutions of their country exactly to ensure independence from local politics.
They represent the interest of the EU.
Approval of legislation proposals presented by the commission is the duty of the EU Parliament, which is made by professional politicians elected in each EU country in proportion of the population.
Each approved legislation has to be then ratified by the single Parliaments of each country, in accordance with their laws.
There is absolutely no lack of representation in EU, believe me!
Don't be that person, learn how the institutions of EU work before writing a random populist good-for-nothing comment (which seems to be a very popular sport Europeans like to play here on HN when talking about EU, for reasons I don't fully comprehend).
The EU commission is unelected in the same way the prime minister is unelected (directly), that does not mean it's undemocratic. There is 1 commissioner proposed by each EU country.
The Commission is undemocratic because it holds great power, yet its members are unelected. Contrast with the EU Parliament, which is elected and therefore far more accountable to the electorate.
> EU seems to have an abundance of unelected regulatory positions.
Like many other system in the World, elections are to chose people's representatives, not to chose the government nor the technical apparatus (like the EU commission).
The US president is one notable example of non elected position.
Anyway, the proposals must be approved by the parliament, which is elected directly by the EU people in number proportional to the population of the single countries and then ratified by the single EU parliaments, which are again elected by the people.
I wouldn't exactly call it "abundance of unelected regulatory positions".
> The problem is that EU institutions are so far and detached from the member states
How exactly is it detached?
The EU parliament is elected.
The EU commission is composed of members appointed by each member state (and every member state is - or should be - a democracy, so the commissioner is s representative of an elected government).
I keep seeing this bullshit being repeated as if it was true, and whenever I ask I never get meaningful answers.
Most decisions were. Post-2009, legislation has to go through Parliament. The Commission remains the initial proposal engine, and makes executive decisions on some things, but in reality most of the urgent matters are dealt with by the Council, i.e. the elected heads of state. Commissioners these days are just people saying "wouldn't be nice if we did this and that?" and then elected MEPs hammer out details and eventually decide whether it looks sensible or not. A lot of Directives are actually fairly-generic guidelines anyway and can be "interpreted" at local level.
> and the ECB
Central bank independence is widely considered a pillar of economic stability. I have my problems with the ECB (mainly that they are fairly powerless in real terms), but not about being nominated vs elected.
So uhm, this trope that the EU is full of "unelected" people is not really up to date, although it was true in the past.
Unrelated, but it's interesting how they describe the European Commission as being "a group of 27 politicians who represent the best interests of Europe as a whole, rather than individual countries". I normally hear them described as "a group of unelected bureaucrats". I guess perspective changes when they're doing a good thing, instead of being complained about.
> As the commission is the executive branch, candidates are chosen individually by the 27 national governments. Within the EU, the legitimacy of the commission is mainly drawn from the vote of approval that is required from the European Parliament, along with its power to dismiss the body.
So, the part of the EU appointed by member governments is the part driving this. The EU (as often) is being used here as a scapegoat for anti-democratic policies desired by national governments.
A reminder that the members of the EU Commission are proposed by the collective ministers of all European governments, appointed by the group of all EU Heads of Govt (prime ministers/presidents) and ratified by the EU Parliament (directly elected).
It's as unelected as the US Supreme Court is - which means - technically unelected, but definitely reflective of the wishes of the electorate via the people they elect to populate it.
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