tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post6318421515464385194..comments2024-03-24T11:22:15.548+00:00Comments on Lustig's Letter: Ruled by Brussels bureaucrats? It’s another lieRobin Lustighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00578195216460807588noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-69622850355244748912016-06-15T17:47:05.538+00:002016-06-15T17:47:05.538+00:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Tom Pagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01748343478551757822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-60020565521611486132016-06-15T17:46:42.290+00:002016-06-15T17:46:42.290+00:00Mr Lustig has overlooked a key point, which is tha...Mr Lustig has overlooked a key point, which is that it is only the unelected Commission who can initiate new EU legislation (or the amendment or repeal of existing EU laws). The powers of our elected MEPs are restricted to vetting draft legislation that the Commission puts forward. <br /><br />This sole ability to initiate legislation places the Commission firmly in the driving seat – 28 unelected Eurocrats (and not our elected MEPs) effectively running the show.Tom Pagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01748343478551757822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-90697737337742268492016-06-11T22:11:15.629+00:002016-06-11T22:11:15.629+00:00I think the trouble with accepting that the govern...I think the trouble with accepting that the government ministers on the Council of the EU are elected is that the democratic process that elected them is at one remove from the EU. They were elected not in any European election, but in a UK election for a UK government. The fact that they go to Brussels sometimes and deal with EU laws seems, to most voters, not quite the same thing as their activities in their national government. We get one vote, and we are already resigned to that vote being a huge compromise. We vote for party candidate on a balance of likes and dislikes - because we agree with them more than we disagree. Stretching that mandate to Europe just seems like overextending that compromise, stretching an already heavily qualified legitimacy too far.. <br /><br />Yes, MEPs are directly elected, but they cannot propose legislation, only debate or amend laws proposed by the European Commission. That, too, feels instinctively undemocratic: we should be able to directly elect - and throw out - the lawmakers themselves, not just the debaters, the revisers. <br /><br />I shall vote Remain, but largely because of the sort of arguments you set out in a previous blog post, regarding the survivability of the EU in the event of Brexit, and how unwise it would be at this point in history. But I find little to postively recommend the EU; it is in crisis, but most of its leaders and advocates seem to prefer to pretend otherwise. I'm with Yanis Varoufakis: the EU must radically reform, or die. I'm fed up of people assuming that, as a leftist, I must be pro-EU. I'm not; I'm pro-European - not the same thing at all, malheureusement.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03797515953397067968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-36276213657857584512016-06-10T15:16:18.684+00:002016-06-10T15:16:18.684+00:00I don't agree with your commenter, PVE Wood, r...I don't agree with your commenter, PVE Wood, regarding "laws made by unelected foreigners". The quote below explains why, but I suppose "taking back control" is such a great snappy slogan and requires no real explanation - fortunately for those who use it. Perhaps if our elected representatives turned up a lot more often then we wouldn't need to take back control:<br /><br />" Public figures analysed by the FT show that Mr Farage attended only one of 42 meetings of the fisheries committee on which he sat for three years. Paul Nuttall, his deputy, attended two out of 56 environment committee meetings.<br /><br />Unlike select committees in Westminster, which have only an advisory role, those in the European Parliament can mould important legislation through “co-decisions” over EU policy alongside the Council of Ministers.<br /><br />In the parliament itself, Ukip typically misses a third of the votes, double the average."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-53105334144637040482016-06-10T13:58:14.676+00:002016-06-10T13:58:14.676+00:00Our economic future might eventually be better out...Our economic future might eventually be better outside the EU, but no-one knows and people who say they know are deluded or deluding. What matters is that I do not see any reason why laws should be made by unelected foreigners that we in the United Kingdom have to obey. <br /><br />There's no right or wrong decision on Brexit - it depends on your values. Do we prefer to be free or want kind masters? I think the English will prefer kind masters. They will vote to stay in, for fear that there would be fewer laws if we leave. But maybe I'm wrong.<br /><br />If H.M. the Queen, supposedly, the Duke of Edinburgh more certainly, Rod Liddle, Nigel Lawson, Ed West, Charles Moore and Douglas Murray are for Brexit and John Major, the Economist and the US State Department are against that's almost good enough for me. Throw in the ghosts of Peter Shore, Anthony Burgess, Enoch Powell...Political Refugee from the Global Villagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03523068770529814044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-79409473554554464842016-06-10T13:56:50.717+00:002016-06-10T13:56:50.717+00:00The standard of accuracy in the referendum has bee...The standard of accuracy in the referendum has been appalling on both sides but especially on the Remain side. Accusing people of deliberate lies when they believe what they say is not only nasty but also untruthful. In any case you are mistaken - we do not get our own way very often in the Council of the European Union . We compromise - of course. Despite the use of qualified majority voting, a high percentage of decisions in the Council are still made by consensus - because of this the UK does not get defeated in open votes often. It's a body akin to the British cabinet not the House of Commons. In the British cabinet votes are not usually taken at all. The Prime Minister generally gets his way with no vote taken. Note I do not accuse you of lying - just of not understanding.Political Refugee from the Global Villagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03523068770529814044noreply@blogger.com