>> Not wholly, in that the Commissioners are appointed by directly-elected national governments. In that sense
>> they're more accountable to the electorate than the UK civil servants who draft the legislation
>> for our parliament to approve.
A good example of a half-truth, repeated here no doubt in good faith.
The 'Commission" is sometimes used to mean the many thousands of EU officials and staff, which is what it is.
It is also used sometimes used to refer to the 28 Commissioners, who essentially tell the Commission what to do.
As these Commissioners are proposed (not appointed) by elected governments, there is some connection with democracy. The European Parliament then votes them in (or not). That is democratic from the EU end of the telescope, but less so from the point of view of a single country, whose MEPs are in a minority.
A major weakness in the argument that every country gets the same number of Commissioners (1) so its representation is not at all proportionate.
To argue that the Commission members being appointed (actually proposed) by the member states means they are more democratic when drafting legislation than the UK civil service is simply wrong. The legislation is drafted by the Commission in the sense of the officials and staff, under direction from the Commissioners (1 per country) rather than under the direction of an elected government as with UK legislation.
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 5 May 16 at 13:57
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