[peoplefromibiza]

that's a common misconception.

Commissioners and the President of commission are appointed (elected) by the Parliament who is in turn elected by the people.

Same way the American president is elected by "electors" who are chosen by the parties, which are voted by the people. People only vote directly for the congress in the US.

It's the same thing for the European institutions, I don't see the problem here.

[Aerroon]

The people vote in the Parliament. The Parliament decides to build a road. The Parliament appoints Jim to build the road.

Is Jim democratically elected? Or does he have some democratic mandate?

In most countries this would be corruption. Government projects like that have to go through an open bidding process and even after that Jim would not be considered to have any democratic mandate.

The difference between Jim and an EU commissioner is which job he is appointed to.

I think in practice the EU commission isn't that bad (so far) - almost all of the people on it are/were big name politicians in their respective countries. I might disagree with a lot of what they have to say, but they did/do represent a sizeable portion of the voters in their country.

[peoplefromibiza]

> The Parliament appoints Jim to build the road

No parliament appoints any Jim to build any road in democratic countries.

Jim's company needs to win a regular tender and have to respect a very long list of regulatory and financial requirements.

Jim's company is a supplier, commissioners are regulators.

Much like in my country (and many others in Europe) ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister who is not elected, but appointed by the parliament, by a majority of the votes.

It doesn't make the Prime Minister and all the ministers equal to an average Joe who's been called to fix a squeaking door.

[Aerroon]

>Jim's company needs to win a regular tender and have to respect a very long list of regulatory and financial requirements.

Yes, because without this bidding, the process falls into corruption. No such process exists for appointing EU commissioners. There's no "regular tender" that the candidate has to win.

>ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister who is not elected, but appointed by the parliament, by a majority of the votes.

The ministers answer to the PM. They are effectively one governmental unit, EU commissioners are not part of it. If the government gets a vote of no confidence then the government is dissolved as a group. EU commissioners can't be recalled mid-way through their term though, which isolates them from this.

[peoplefromibiza]

> No such process exists for appointing EU commissioners

I'm really struggling to understand why you keep lying about this.

First of all, there is no such process for any politician everywhere in the World.

Because they are not building roads where people drive their kids on and they are not the solely responsible for building them, in democratic countries there's a lot of them contributing to a synthesis, there's government, there's opposition, there's third parties (so called because... you know!)

Secondly, There's no "regular tender" it's bullshit.

Of course there is, nobody would be candidated to be a commissioner if there's no ground.

I wouldn't be chosen by any party, ever!

Because I have no chances of winning the tender.

Thirdly, and most importantly, there's a vetting process in place in the EU, and any of the commissioners there has more enemies than supporters, including those who are competing for the same seat.

So please stop your anti-EU propaganda and talk about the points you think are problematic in EU, not some fantasy issue that does not exist.

> The ministers answer to the PM. They are effectively one governmental unit, EU commissioners are not part of it.

Just because the mechanic is slightly different it doesn't mean it's wrong.

In France the President is elected directly, in Italy it isn't, in USA it's somewhat in the middle. it's the process that makes institutions democratic, not the system you chose.

> EU commissioners can't be recalled mid-way through their term though, which isolates them from this.

It's the same for parliament members in Italy unless they either die or resign, so what?

[shjake]

The EU parliament doesn’t directly appoint the EU government and it can’t propose new legislation. They just approve what’s sent to them.

[peoplefromibiza]

> They just approve what’s sent to them.

They can say no, the same way electors could vote whoever they like as president of the USA.

It doesn't make the POTUS any less an elected figure.

p.s. EU single state Parliaments are elected too, they don't come from space.

[shjake]

Commissioners are not appointed by the parliament they are appointed by the governments of the members states. They often use it as a way to get rid of influential but incompetent politicians for a fee years..

[peoplefromibiza]

Misconception #2

Candidates for the remaining Commission portfolios have to go through a tough parliamentary vetting process too.

The European Council, in agreement with the Commission President-elect, adopts a list of candidate commissioners, one for each member state. These Commissioners-designate appear before parliamentary committees in their prospective fields of responsibility. Each committee then meets to draw up its evaluation of the candidate's expertise and performance, which is sent to the President of the Parliament

After the President and Commissioners have been approved by Parliament, they are formally appointed by the European Council, acting by a qualified majority.