Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2025 6:01 pm
Still not interested. Does nothing to advance the actual topic.
But "unaccountable" is completely warranted. No EU Commissioner is ever accountable to the people about whom he is making the decisions. And you know it. So there's no point in arguing with you.
Your argument would make out that Goebbels was "accountable" to Jews, because he had to answer
to Hitler.
Bob has NO SAY, and yet you suggest that's "accountability"?
Well, if you knew your history, not to mention how the EU actually works, you would realise what a poor analogy that is. In the early 1930's, the Nazis, being the largest democratically elected party in the Reichstag, seized power and, until Germany was defeated in WWII, all subsequent German Parliamentary elections consisted of one question; variations on 'Do you approve of what we are doing?' Typical results were a 99% turnout, with 98% approval. Now, you clearly don't know much about democracies, but take it from me: those figures are suspiciously high. On top of that, all opposition parties were banned in 1933. So while Goebbels was accountable to Hitler, neither of them was accountable to the electorate.
In contrast, Bob has a vote that counts as much as anyone else's which he can cast for the party he believes will best represent his interests and/or the leader of which he believed would have best represented his interests in the European Council. Among the duties of the Council is the selection of EU Commissioners. Were Bob not happy with the Commissioners chosen by the Council, he could, in future election rounds, have voted for a candidate for a party, the leader of which Bob believed would select commissioners he did approve of.
In addition, Bob had the opportunity to vote for a member of the European Parliament who, in light of the many times I have pointed it out, you will be aware has to ratify the Selection of EU Commissioners by the European Council, and can, if they feel pressed to do so, dissolve the European Commission and demand a new one. Again, if Bob were not happy with the performance of his MEP, he had the opportunity in the next election cycle to vote for a candidate he preferred. The thing with election cycles is they come round when they come round and until they do, short of lobbying, protest and revolution, every constituent is as powerless as poor Bob.
There are different versions of democracy, none of which can ever please everybody all of the time, but again, as Winston Churchill said:
“Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”
Anyway, don't worry about apologising; I know you would rather have a limb removed.
I'll take your preferences into consideration, and give them all the consideration they deserve.