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A wolf killed the EU president’s precious pony - then the fight to catch the predator began
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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I have no idea who this person is but they look straight up like a young adult movie villain.
EU commission president, former german minister of defence, conservative party. Advocate for strong internet censorship
Oh, I thought only southern countries sent our controversial and/or senile politicians to brussels.
PS: Apologies for the european foreign minister/representative, we didn't manage to sew his mouth shut here either.
I thought that was an exclusively German custom, because for us Germans, the EU Commission pretty much equals a toxic waste dump for politicians who are so bad that they have become unusable for domestic purposes.
Before we forget the one good bit: She was instrumental to the EU Green Deal.
All you really need to know is that said person failed upwards and then got into it's current position by a backroom deal that ignored the EU election results.
IMHO very questionable at least, at best not good in that position either.
I have yet to really wrap my head around the Commission, as a dumb American. It seems worse than our electoral college system, which is impressive.
I can't really tell about that either since I have not read up about the electoral college yet. It's certainly different. What does grind my gears however is when democratic results get ignored no matter where they happen because reasons. She was not even up for debate for that position when we got our chance to vote and then ended up in that position after the fact.
I think, that the phrase "ignoring the election results" is too harsh. You vote for parties, not persons. Of course, they usually nominate their frontrunners for the election campaign, but if they can't ensure a majority in the elected parliament, what else should they do?
VdL definitely was a sketchy back room deal, I am talking more about the general principle here.
Where I live (at least when it comes to the EU) We do in fact vote for people over a party. At least that is the understanding on how it works here. As for what can be done: do the vote again for one thing. I am sure that there are other options too. The last thing that should happen is that someone who wasn't even up for debate at the time to get the job. That was the worst outcome in all regards because now I don't trust the democratic process there that much anymore knowing that at any moment practically anyone can get that position regardless of any result from the people that make up the EU.
Really? What's on the ballot in your country? If it is the party, then you vote for the party and with this you vote parliamentarians on the list into the european parliament. I get that the media reporting muddled this process, because frontrunners make for a more interesting coverage, but that is not how it works at all.
As far as I can remember the ballot states people first and foremost, only stating party as a somewhat small addition below that person's name. So it looks a lot like you are voting for individuals rather than the party. Media coverage also didn't help and they mentioned how it is perceived differently in all other EU countries that got to vote as well.