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by toyg 1457 days ago
Absolutely, if VdL lost the confidence of the European Council, i.e. the governments that nominated her, she'd be out on her ass.

I agree that her nomination was a loss for Parliament in the constant, ongoing constitutional war of attrition between them and the Council. But that doesn't mean there is no way to force VdL from office if necessary.
1 comments
blibble 1457 days ago
> Absolutely, if VdL lost the confidence of the European Council, i.e. the governments that nominated her, she'd be out on her ass.

there is no mechanism for the council to remove the commission president

the parliament can, but only by dismissing the entire commission (making it politically very difficult)

this also requires a 66.6% majority

vs the 50%+1 that was needed to appoint, so it's all but impossible (by design, again)

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toyg 1457 days ago
A Commission President without the support of the Council would see all her proposals shot down immediately and all her commissioners resigning. It would be untenable and she would have to resign.

There is the law and there is the spirit of the law. After all, for centuries, UK parliaments didn't even technically have to hold regular elections if they didn't feel like doing it.

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blibble 1457 days ago
I'd love to know how you've come to that conclusion with such certainty, given nothing even close to it has ever occurred, and the EU's usual way of dealing with crises is to push them under the carpet and pretend there's no problem

(like it's doing here)

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toyg 1457 days ago
At least one Commissioner was forced to resign already, after being accused of collusion with organised-crime, under President Barroso. One Commission President (Romano Prodi) was somewhat marred by accusations of widespread corruption towards the latter part of his mandate (iirc generically aimed at various Commission members and nominees, rather than himself, but still there were demands for his dismissal from various governments), saw his powers effectively curtailed, and his chances of a second mandate were wiped out.

Traditionally, nothing in Bruxelles get done without widespread consensus, including staying in power.

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logifail 1457 days ago
> Traditionally, nothing in Bruxelles get done without widespread consensus

One assumes "widespread" in that context means both in the Council and the Brussels 'bubble'?

Imagine if one were to be able to decide stuff like this via, say, a public vote, in an election. A radical idea!

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