Comment by Muromec
12 days ago
Von der Leyen and the rest of executive branch of EU are appointed in a same way a lot of countries appoint their executive branch members — by a vote in legislative branch.
12 days ago
Von der Leyen and the rest of executive branch of EU are appointed in a same way a lot of countries appoint their executive branch members — by a vote in legislative branch.
That's not how the EU works.
The EU Parliament was given a vote on von der Leyen. It was a ballot with a single name on it: hers. By the time it go to the rubberstamping stage the decision was already made. The MEPs couldn't propose other candidates for the vote, and the Parliament can't propose changes to the law either, so it's not the legislative branch of the EU. The legislative branch of the EU would be... the EU Commission. Which is also its executive.
The way von der Leyen was selected is a secret. Nobody knows how it happened. She didn't run in a democratic process of any kind, so she isn't a politician. If you ask EU fans they'll tell you the heads of state selected her. We have no evidence of this. That's the written process, but no records were produced of any such meeting, or a vote, or however it is that this decision was theoretically made. She could have been presented as a fait accompli by a single country, other countries could have been bribed, they could have been excluded entirely. We'd never know.
Nobody voted for Dick Schoof either, yet he is a prime minister of the Netherlands. That just how coalitions work -- a lot of trades behind closed doors and then a vote in a legislature. The bigger the chamber the more stuff happens before the closed doors or in a commettee.
>She didn't run in a democratic process of any kind, so she isn't a politician
The word you are aiming for is "аппаратчік" -- carreer party member. Which is a fair point, but I don't see it as something fundamentally wrong. I want an experience faceless bureaucrat to do the very valuable faceless bureaucratic thingy -- the technicalities, of which are many. I like, it's great.
> and the Parliament can't propose changes to the law either
They sure can and they sure do it. Commission gives a draft, the chamber votes on the first reading, then a committee in of the parliament can do whatever with the text, including changing "approve" to "reject" making it the opposite of what commission proposed. Which is then voted again by the parliament and again by the council ( which is basically an upper chamber ). I'm not sure whether the chamber can bring back voted down amendments or introduce their own during second or third hearing, as I didn't read the procedural rules, but I suspect it's all there.
If anything, the whole thing is more resembling the original US double chamber parliament than the current US, because the EU of now is as fragmented (or you can say federated) than US was when it originally formed.
von der Leyen is neither experienced nor faceless. She's famous throughout Europe for her gross incompetence, especially having led the German military to ruin. Given that she failed at running a single department in a single state she has no identifiable characteristics that make her qualified for her current role.
She is however notable for being a terrible negotiator and constantly being at the center of corruption scandals. Wikipedia has a sample.
But that is how the EU rolls.
There's no similarity to the US. Congress is the supreme power and originates all law. They might take suggested drafts from the executive branch, but outside of carve-outs where Congress lets the executive branch pass its own regulations, the civil service can only make suggestions for legislation. The EU is backwards: only the civil service can change the law, and the so-called Parliament is reduced to suggesting changes.
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