Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union
by teamonkey on Saturday July 16, 2016 @03:07PM
(#12107497)
Well yes, but I don't think people even realise that there are actually representatives from the UK there who don't do nothing.
There was a Scottish MEP who made an impassioned speech in contrast to Farage's nonsense. a) I only saw it due to it showing up in my relatively pro-EU Facebook echo chamber; b) I'd never heard of him before.
Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union
by SixSigma on Saturday July 16, 2016 @07:33AM
(#12106010)
As Daniel Hannan [1] (Conservative MEP for 17 years) says : "Uniquely, we have managed to create a system that is anti-democratic - you only get to go there when you have lost an election. Only when, like: Chris Patten, Neil Kinnock, and Jean-Claude Junkers, you have been expressly rejected by voters are you invited to sit as an MEP" [2]
Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union
by tormeh on Saturday July 16, 2016 @08:41AM
(#12106158)
Which is because you can always have more power by becoming a leader of a member state than a leader of some part of the EU machine. Becoming a MEP or commissioner/MEP is not exactly a move towards power. Therefore it's usually a path taken by those whose time in the national spotlight have passed or those who have had to adjust their ambitions.
It's not anti-democratic that the players for the lower-rang positions are of lower rang.
It's voting for non-representation.