[wwtrv]

> She was appointed by the EU parliament

IMHO that would be perfectly fine on its own (or do you think that any parliamentary state is not a "real democracy"?).

But the problem is that she was appointed by the Council/National governments and the parliament just rubber-stamped their pick. If the relationship between the Parliament and Commission were the same as between the parliaments and governments of other countries it would be perfectly fine.

> "real president"

You clearly don't speak French? What's a "real president" anyway?

Also if we go that route you do know that the e.g. German, Italian, Greek etc. "presidents" are also not elected directly?

[carlosjobim]

Nominated by the Council and appointed by the Parliament. No, it is not real democracy. It is "representative democracy", at best. And I believe Europeans are defending this system just out of the human habit of defending status quo. If it was arranged anyway else, they would argue that was the best. If the EU had presidential elections by popular vote, do you think anybody here would argue that those should be scrapped for parliamentary appointment?

Europe doesn't have the strong traditions of freedom and individualism. The tradition is collectivism and people accepting that they are to be ruled over, without that bothering them too much.

"There is no "President" of the EU in the US sense of the word." <- This statement by a previous commenter is what I'm referring to when writing "real president". No, I don't speak French, and this conversation hasn't been in French.