George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union

Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union by Brakenshire on Saturday July 16, 2016 @07:21AM (#12105987)

The head of the Commission is voted in or out ever 4-5 years (previously by representatives of governments, now by the Parliament). The representatives can be removed through national democratic processes, and the Parliament is directly elected.

Moreover, countries can leave at any time, as the UK has just done. All round, seems to exceed your criteria.

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Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union by mrec on Saturday July 16, 2016 @07:54AM (#12106055)

Well, ish. AIUI the President of the Commission is still nominated by the European Council; the Parliament can veto that nomination but can't propose their own. (Rather like their role in legislation.)

Your "Moreover, countries can leave at any time, as the UK has just done." sounds a bit odd in the context of this argument. "It's silly for countries to leave the EU on the grounds that it's not democratic, when it's obviously democratic because countries can leave the EU".

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Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union by tormeh on Saturday July 16, 2016 @08:24AM (#12106113)

>the President of the Commission is still nominated by the European Council

Yes, technically correct. What happened last time however was that the EP said "We want Juncker and we'll veto anyone else". There was a long staring contest and the EP eventually won. A veto isn't a technicality that you can approximate away - it's just as important as being able to propose laws.

The national leaders generally didn't like this, because they prefer the EU being more like a (huge, weird) deal negotiation table than something with direct representation. The national leaders are ultimately in charge, so this whole episode is mostly an unforeseen consequence of past treaties that they're willing to tolerate.

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Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union by gggggg11111 on Saturday July 16, 2016 @10:02AM (#12106340)

UK with its house of Lords, no constitution, monarch as head of state, and members of parliament who somehow seem to come from same schools/universities is not exactly the best example of Democracy

But hey look at EU over there

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Re:George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union by rayiner on Saturday July 16, 2016 @12:20PM (#12106835)

The U.K. Has a constitution, just not a single written document. It's the oldest extant constitutional government: even at the time of the Magna Carta 800 years ago the English were following constitutional principles.

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