Quote Originally Posted by ibis View Post
Sure, but that's not something that's addressed by electing Commissioners to follow national interests - in fact, that makes it more likely, not less, that the legislation the Commission proposes is national in its interests. Bear in mind that the German (say) Commissioner will be the Commissioner for the Internal Market. If it is actually intended that he pursue German national interests, then we'll have five years of a German Market, not a Common Market.

I think this idea of electing Commissioners is frankly silly. We nearly all find our own Ministers to be ********************e at their actual briefs on a regular basis, because their real main talent is being popular.

The Commission needs to be democratically overseen, not elected.



Certainly there's nothing wrong with his short Constitution (well, little anyway, except that he has pointless and counter-productive reflex demands like elected Commissioners) - and I wonder whether Mr Ganley will be taking up the cudgels to get that one adopted?

However, that short document will lead, in turn, as other such readable Constitutions do, to lots and lots and lots of interpretation.

That's why the Treaties are long, legalistic, and dull, after all - because the signatory governments don't want to put themselves in the hands of the ECJ any more than they can help, so everything is spelled out as much as possible. If you asked me to mount a campaign against Bonde's document, that's the angle I would choose - that the adoption of such a document as the foundation of Europe means placing virtually the entire future of Europe in the hands of the ECJ. Such a campaign would be unnecessary, unfortunately, because the national governments simply won't sign such a document.
I think Seabhcan's suggestion is certainly interesting- transferring Commission powers to the Parliament. Remember that the process of appointing commissioners has meant in practice that we have been landed with one who has twice been forced to resign from office, another who has a conviction for supplying false information, another who was under investigation...