The European Commission's influence on law making

I was prompted by a caller to the Farage show this morning to do some research into the powers of the European Commission. Said caller who wanted to "put him in his place" in respect of the reality enraged the pro-leave campaigner by saying that the EU Commission did not write EU law. That many of the laws are actually written by the British. Said broadcaster needed some time to recover and it was a while before the next caller which was on another subject :

"The Commission is important, but doesn’t run the EU

Claims that the EU is run by the European Commission, or that the Commission is the government of Europe, aren’t correct.

They exaggerate the power of the Commission, and understate the role of other institutions, which it’s generally correct to say debate, amend and pass EU laws.

They also ignore the influence of the EU’s member countries.

This may be because the European Union is a political system that borrows from many places without taking any one in particular as a model.

The EU has little in common with Whitehall or Westminster, making it difficult to describe in terms of the way government works in the UK.

The Commission has political leadership as well as administrative functions

The European Commission formally proposes new laws, oversees the budget, manages some policies, and represents the EU in trade agreements.

It also has more staff than other EU institutions. There are around 33,000 civil servants in the Commission, 68% of whom are on permanent contracts.

It is led by a 28-person ‘College’, which includes one Commissioner from each member country. This is headed by the Commission President, currently the former prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker.

The Commission President is nominated by the prime ministers and presidents of the EU member states. The President then allocates jobs to other Commissioners, who are nominated by their government.

The whole College must be approved by a majority vote in the European Parliament and among prime ministers and presidents.

But there are other EU bodies, equally or more important

The Commission’s size, influence, responsibilities and, political leadership explain why it’s often said to “run the EU”. But it is not the most important institution when it comes to making decisions.

That distinction belongs to the European Council, according to Professor Kassim. This brings together the top political leaders from the member states.

Crucially, the Commission has only a limited role in EU law-making. It can decide some less important rules, and in general it is the only institution that can propose new laws, but it doesn’t have the power to pass them on its own.

Professor Kassim says that many of the proposals that it brings forward have been requested by national political leaders. And there is no guarantee that a Commission proposal will become a law.

The authority to make law belongs to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

The Parliament is directly elected by EU citizens every five years. The Council of the European Union, sometimes called the Council of Ministers, is where representatives of all 28 member countries negotiate.

These two institutions debate, amend and pass EU law. Each one has a veto.

Put differently, a Commission proposal only becomes an EU law when it attracts the support of two majorities. It needs both a majority in the Council, representing at least 55% of EU countries and 65% of the EU population, and a majority in the Parliament."

https://fullfact.org/europe/eu-facts...s-bureaucrats/

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

Well that seems overly complicated to be honest, Its long been my view that if anything happens one country can make a decision fairly fast but if you need all 27 to agree that takes too much time to consider if it's a quick decision needed.

When they were a group of five or seven it was possible but twenty seven or more is far to unweildly .


So who ever does it doesn't really matter. Also it's just another layer of government above us. How many do we need ? We are human beings we don't need babysitting we should be able within our own laws to live reasonable lives.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

Well it is a very large area and everyone has to have a say, but my main point in posting this is that important legal decisions are made by elected representatives with the involvement of all States and not by some invisible un-elected bureaucrats. The caller to LBC was saying that voters are being misled on this issue.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

Fascism does not begin with jackbooted troopers, it creeps up on you with lies a false promises.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

Exactly why I voted to Leave the EU!!

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

You obviously have no understanding of the influence the unelected autocrats have regarding decision making.

All 27 nations and all elected representatives take their lead from the Commission and every vote, every law and every decision is exactly what the Unelected Autocrats have pre-ordained.

The one thing we can be sure of is that this bloated, complicated, self serving and undemocraic system can not possibly understand nor serve the interest of the United Kingdom or its people.

Even you can see that once you take your blinkers off!

Your naivety and unwillingness to see any faults with the EU Empire is breathtaking.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

How is the UK on its own different?

How many unelected people are there running the UK? Farage himself is unelected these days isn't he? We have a House of Lords - are they elected? There will always be people behind the politicians. But you cannot deny the EU is run on a democratic process. Just as we are. We didn't get special concessions on the Euro and schengen because there is no democracy. It's nonsense to pretend otherwise.

The rest of the arguments about this are inflated lies to sway opinion away from our own system of decision making which appears to be based on little black books of secrets and an un-elected chamber of rich people.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

There is no logic in that whatsoever.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

On our own we can change and develop, after finding our voices actually mean something in a referendum I predict that will open the doors to voting changes after brexit.

Re: The European Commission's influence on law making

There is a big risk that will backfire and we will end up less democratic. Based on his radio broadcasts Farage is planning a shake up which is amazing given he has no political office. He spends every programme saying the most awful things about the PM. I cannot believe people here are criticising the EU for its process when we have an unelected busybody back seat driving policy here.