I hear a lot about how the EU is undemocratic and none elected. Is that actually true? I thought we all voted for our MEP in exactly the same way that we vote for our MP.
Another way to look at it is _ Who wants to live in a country where every law has to be passed by unelected people, many of whom are simply there due to their ancestry ,and then passed by another superior person who IS their solely down to ancestry? This is what the leavers want in reality. At least in the EU there is safety in numbers
We elect MEPs to the European parliament, which is the only parliament in the world that doesn't not have the power to propose, amend or repeal legislation. They vote on legislation on block - often at the rate of many dozens per hour. All EU laws are drafted by the European Commission, which is comprised of one commissioner from each member state. These commissioners are appointed not elected. Hence the undemocratic argument.
No its not entirely true. I suppose it depends upon your view of democracy. In or out of the EU we are not entirely democratic are we, we have a monarchy (not democratic) and we have a second chamber (not democratic). We have a civil service (unelected) which is heavily involved on the political scene. Sponsored MP's?, the list goes on. The EU in my opinion is no less democratic in principle.
Do democratically elected people appoint these Commisioners like democratically elected ministers appoint people to the House Of Lords?
But aren't the commissioners appointed by those who have been elected? Much in he same way that we do not directly elect who will be our home secretary etc? We elect the MPs but we don't elect who gets what job, they are appointed by those we have elected. I believe that our European commissioner is in the job because the elected EC leader listened to the elected British prime ministers recommendation of the elected MP Jonathan Hill. It's about as elected s you can possibly get.
Just about to mention the same thing - House of Lords play an important part in British Politics and shaping the laws but are unelected
There is some accurate info here, I would much rather have influence at the ballot box on who governs us . the choice is yours. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36429482
I don't know how both sides have been able to get away with un-truths in this campaign, but the leave campaign have by far spouted the most exaggerated un-truths of the two (IMHO).
When was the last time we elected a government that was voted for by the MAJORITY of voters? This Juncker thing is yet another smoke screen. I that wish that people would consider the economic issues, because if we leave the EU and GDP goes down and there are fewer jobs, the **** will hit the fan, even if we are governed by an government elected by the British people and our voters have a perceived full control of their own destiny.
and lest we forget who bears the brunt of further Austerity? Clue, it's not those that can afford it.
In the area that I know about - environmental protection - what Europe actually does is produce frameworks (ground rules) in which member states construct their own agri-environment scheme rules, or legal protection of sites of conservation values (or not) So the Laws for the most part are still drafted and voted on in West Minster. Unfortunately because of lack of funding from the current government we are failing to meet our European commitments to protect the environment. The local reserves here have not been monitored as required for the last few years. So even where there are European regulation, (perfectly reasonable ones that we all benefit from) we don't comply with them Our right wing press regularly complain about other European nations not obeying the rules, the reality is - its usually the UK that break the rules.
Have a read here http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/eu_institutions.html The 4 main institutions are the Commission, Council of Ministers (actually a lot of different councils for economy, foreign affairs, etc, etc), European Council and Parliament. There are others. The parliament is elected and made up of MEPs. The Council of ministers and European Council are made up of elected MPs of member states. Commissioners are appointed by individual governments but are not supposed to represent those governments. The Commission was intended to be supranational i.e. not just representing national interests. This was done so that the EU wouldn't descend into national rivalries i.e. the French early on. The others split along political lines and represent their own countries although they have shared interests in changing things. Power really lies with member states despite what eurosceptics say about unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. The Commission does have a lot of power but individual states can block proposals. There is though pressure among states to compromise. Otherwise nothing would change. Those who repeat parrot-like clichés about taking back control overlook the fact that individual governments have most powers at home, including defence, health, education, housing, tax, security, etc.
We don't elected our PM or members of the cabinet. These are all appointments OK you might think you know who is leader of the Tory party at the time of the election. But if they are in power and want to change our PM, then we have no control over that. Is that democratic? Is it different from what happens in Europe?
The UK government was also responsible for your education. If you feel let down then you're blaming the wrong people.
