[ossobuco]

I would even agree on this, but I wonder why do I never hear anyone requesting for the EU leadership to be held accountable for pursuing a policy of blind dependence on the US? We've cut ties with anyone the US disliked, only to be left alone all of a sudden, why aren't we looking for those responsible for this? I can tell you, many of them are currently in a position of power within the EU.

Right now we have top diplomats like Kallas saying publicly that we need to find a way to beat China, all while we already have problems with Russia and the USA. They are putting us in a corner against the rest of the world, and for what? Who has to benefit from this?

[surgical_fire]

> I wonder why do I never hear anyone requesting for the EU leadership to be held accountable for pursuing a policy of blind dependence on the US?

The EU is a democratic institution. Its leaders are elected (or appointed by those who are elected). The way to hold them accountable is during elections.

I don't think that anyone campaigning on a platform to spend money on defense in EU would have been very successful prior to 2025. Things likely changed now.

[ossobuco]

> The EU is a democratic institution

I don't understand how Von Der Leyen got "elected" again then, given her horrible performance, and that only a 37% of Europeans views her favourably[0]. The catastrophic situation we find ourselves in developed under her commission, after all.

> The way to hold them accountable is during elections.

Given that VDL was elected by the EU parlament with secret ballot, how do I know which MEP voted her, so that I can vote someone else at the next EU elections?

- [0]: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/04/03/von-der-leyens...

[surgical_fire]

Von der Leyen is president of the EU commission. Members of EU commission are appointed by each EU member head of state - who are all democratically elected. All EU countries should be democracies after all, although Hungary is certainly stretching this definition.

The president of the commission is appointed by the EU council (which is generally formed by the government of each member state), but has to be formally approved by the EU parliament.

If you are unhappy with how your countries' elected members of parliament (or how its head of state conducts your country position within the EU), you can vote to change it.

This includes decisions on which votes are by secret ballot.

[ossobuco]

Nothing of what I said is incorrect, yet you chose to provide a condescending and pointless explainer instead of addressing my arguments.

Why is VDL ruling the commission if her previous performance was terrible and she isn't viewed favorably by the majority of Europeans?

Why was she appointed by MPEs with secret ballot?

Given the current situation, do you really believe the democratic system in place for the EU provides efficient mechanisms for holding elected officials accountable for their actions?

I'd honestly expect better from the supposed "cradle of democracy".

[surgical_fire]

> Nothing of what I said is incorrect, yet you chose to provide a condescending and pointless explainer instead of addressing my arguments.

I provided an explanation with no particularly condescending tone. I have no idea how your arguments were not addressed.

> Why is VDL ruling the commission if her previous performance was terrible and she isn't viewed favorably by the majority of Europeans?

The opportunity to change is in the regular elections, both at national and EU levels. That's when unpopular leaders are replaced.

The fact that a particular leader is unpopular does not mean much, as they are indirectly elected (as so happens in paliamentarism).

> Given the current situation, do you really believe the democratic system in place for the EU provides efficient mechanisms for holding elected officials accountable for their actions?

Yes, I do. Depending on what you mean by "held accountable", of course. People sometimes use this jargon in a very loaded manner.

The main problem I see is not the "accountability", as the commissioner is accountable to the council that picked them.

The main problem is that the council is formed by national government representatives. This mixes EU politics with local national politics. I may vote for a given party in national elections for local reaasons (e.g.: housing and transportation), but I may disagree with their stance on the EU level.

I don't know a good way to resolve this dissonance outside of some sort of federalization of the EU (something I think would be positive btw).

[ossobuco]

> The main problem I see is not the "accountability", as the commissioner is accountable to the council that picked them.

You realize that cannot work when both the council and the commissioner play on the same political agenda? For the council to hold the commissioner accountable it would mean to admit their own guilt. There is no incentive for them to do this, so there is no mechanism for accountability at all.

One example? VDL privately conducting EU business with Pfizer for a vaccine purchase on her phone (illicit) and refusing to provide the text messages to the EU's general court. All while her commission is supposedly based on defending standards of transparency, efficiency and so on.

What about her countless delusions about Russia's economy being about to collapse while all she accomplished was to send EU in a recession?

Or her blindly pursuing a policy of dependence on the USA and hostility towards China, only for the US to dump us as soon as they got a new president?

Please tell me where's the accountability in all of this.

Or why now, given her track record made up entirely of failures, we should trust her to guide the EU into a new very delicate historical phase.