Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Israel-Hamas conflict

Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by perceptronas on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @01:44PM (#37847746)

European Commission fits here. Head of commission is approved by parliament as far I know, but commissars are not elected, just suggested by each state governments. Also, all EU laws can only be proposed by European Commission. Others can suggest them, but only they can bring them to parliament. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by bmurphy1976 on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @03:42PM (#37849312)

Are the EU state governments not elected? Last I checked they were.

Lots of bureaucratic and political positions are appointed by other elected representatives. We can't elect everybody, that would be too much. So is that really a problem here?

I am not that up to speed on the intricacies of EU governance at this level so I really don't know if this is a real problem or not.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by stvltvs on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:19PM (#37849751)

This is more like the way we used to elect Senators in the US. The state legislatures used to select Senators until we amended the Constitution to require direct election by the people. Personally, I would prefer direct accountability of top government officials like the European Commission to the public.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by malermeister on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:03PM (#37849568)

Isn't this the same as like a secretary in the US, appointed by an elected government official?

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by frumper on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:17PM (#37849728)

I would not call the Secretary of the Treasury, or any cabinet head, an elected position in the US.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by malermeister on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:25PM (#37849812)

Would you call them part of a democratic government?

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by frumper on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:48PM (#37850063)

Sure. I'd also call the entire civil service part of the democratic government.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by dragonwriter on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @04:46PM (#37850031)

> European Commission fits here. Head of commission is approved by parliament as far I know, but commissars are not elected, just suggested by each state governments.

The commissioners are appointed by the EC president in consultation with the member governments, and then the commission as a whole needs to secure approval of parliament. This is similar to the process by which parliamentary governments usually form a cabinet, but with the European Council (representatives of all member-state governments) serving in the role of head of state.

One typically talks about the government in a parliamentary system as being elected, so...

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by nvm0n2 on Thursday October 12, 2023 @04:22AM (#37854735)

The EU Parliament isn't really a parliament, so that argument doesn't work. If it was really a parliament the Commission would work for the MEPs and they'd be the ones deciding the law. In the EU it's the other way around.

The way they play games with words doesn't make it a democratic system, it is however a very effective tool for the EU to muddy the water and confuse people into thinking it has greater legitimacy than it really does.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by malermeister on Thursday October 12, 2023 @05:03AM (#37854929)

So which part do you see as undemocratic? The parliament is directly elected by the EU populace. The council is the heads of state, which are elected by the respective national electorate. The commission is appointed by those same elected national governments.

Is that appointment process not democratic because its one layer of indirection? It's the same thing that happens for pretty much any minister/secretary in pretty much every democracy. Is the US government not a democratic system because the secretary of state is appointed? Is the UK not democratic because the Cabinet is appointed? Are there any democracies by that narrow definition?

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by nvm0n2 on Thursday October 12, 2023 @11:39AM (#37858730)

See my other reply. You are confused about the nature of the EU and are repeating how the treaties say they are supposed to work, not what processes are actually followed.

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Re:Europe gives Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to respond about Is... by scarface_74 on Saturday October 14, 2023 @12:27PM (#37881816)

So maybe the answer is that more government power should be closer to the people they affect?

Yes, I know the shit show that “states rights” were in the US

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