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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]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hannan

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJcuKfcxo9w#t=6m50s

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.