UK in/out Europe?
Out of context: Reply #83
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- lowimpakt0
I think it is important to discuss how laws are made at an EU level.
we're told that it's only faceless bureaucrats and it is undemocratic.
This basic image give an overview.
The European Commission is the part that proposes legislation. The commission is broken up into various offices that relate to key policy areas (similar to departments).
The heads of these offices (commissioners) are national politicians who have been elected in their own country but have been suggested by the current government for the role.
One change is that when they become a commissioner they are required to work in the European interest rather than only their national/party interest.
The commission is constantly interacting with research, interest groups (NGOs, lobbyists), citizen groups etc. to understand what issues should be addressed at a European Dimension (trade, workers rights, climate change, products and food safety etc. )
Once the commission has proposed an idea for legislation there is liaison with national parliaments.
The idea for legislation is then passed onto the directly elected Parliament for debate and to the Council of Ministers (sitting heads of state).
There is then a process of co-decision where the directly elected parliament and sitting heads of government decide on what should be implemented.
Once it has passed this process it has to be implemented by national parliaments.
Many EU laws are "directives". These are more like suggestions on how laws should be implemented. It has been up to each member state to decide on how to implement.
This is a bit of a nightmare because everyone does things differently thus defeating the purpose of working at a transnational level.
There is now a greater emphasis on harmonisation.
so in summary, the commission is headed up by politicians who have been elected by their public but appointed by their national government.
The European parliament is directly elected by each country.
The council of Ministers is made up of the current sitting government.
It's far less about faceless bureaucrats and undemocratic procedure than Farage would lead you to believe.
- jesus that's a long postlowimpakt
- more democratic than UK parliamentkingsteven