Von der Leyen isn’t the problem here. Also, implying that she may be apponted undemocratically because we didn’t elect her directly is naive at best and outright dishonest at worst… if you go by that rule you’ll find loads of “undemocratic” positions (including, eg. for Italy, the head of state, the prime minister and all other ministers, the heads of the two branches of the parliament, etc…)
Anyway, the problem is that EU countries keep trying to one-up each other: it’s divide et impera, but, since we are already divided, foreign powers can leisurely skip to the “impera” part (TBH Putin has been quite effective on the “divide” part too).
Also, implying that she may be apponted undemocratically because we didn’t elect her directly is naive at best and outright dishonest at worst
I never said that. No, it’s because we had a democratic process set up for the previous election, which the commission chose to ignore this time. See also my other comment. It’s not just me saying this either, much of the parliament was furious at the way she was chosen.
The parliament had a chance to say if they approved of von der Leyen or not and they said yes.
That gives von der Leyen much more democratic legitimacy than whoever the Spitzenkandidat of the biggest party happened to have (also… is picking the nominee of the biggest party, regardless of alliances, democratic?).
Von der Leyen isn’t the problem here. Also, implying that she may be apponted undemocratically because we didn’t elect her directly is naive at best and outright dishonest at worst… if you go by that rule you’ll find loads of “undemocratic” positions (including, eg. for Italy, the head of state, the prime minister and all other ministers, the heads of the two branches of the parliament, etc…)
Anyway, the problem is that EU countries keep trying to one-up each other: it’s divide et impera, but, since we are already divided, foreign powers can leisurely skip to the “impera” part (TBH Putin has been quite effective on the “divide” part too).
I never said that. No, it’s because we had a democratic process set up for the previous election, which the commission chose to ignore this time. See also my other comment. It’s not just me saying this either, much of the parliament was furious at the way she was chosen.
That makes even less sense.
The parliament had a chance to say if they approved of von der Leyen or not and they said yes.
That gives von der Leyen much more democratic legitimacy than whoever the Spitzenkandidat of the biggest party happened to have (also… is picking the nominee of the biggest party, regardless of alliances, democratic?).