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0 pointspeoplewindow8y ago0 comments

How is he trolling by stating the facts? You might wish it were different but the EU Parliament doesn't have any real power. It can call for things all it likes, but it can't make law, which raises the question of why it calls itself a Parliament. The single purpose of a Parliament is to make law, after all.

The wiki page you link to does say that.

Voters have been figuring it out. Turnout for EP elections has been falling steadily since the institution was first created:

http://www.ukpolitical.info/european-parliament-election-tur...

From 62% to around 40% on average. People don't bother voting because the EP can't/won't actually do much except cheerlead for the EU itself and demand it does more.

This sort of story appears from time to time. The EP calls for this, it calls for that. Nobody pays much attention because these "calls" don't matter. The EU's laws can only be changed by the Commission, and EU law is made entirely in secret (unlike every other legislature in the world save North Korea). So there's little point trying to get involved or care what they do - EU law just "appears" fully formed and gets implemented without debate.

https://euobserver.com/institutional/136630

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yorwba8y ago

> You might wish it were different but the EU Parliament doesn't have any real power.

The EP can't initiate new law, but they can still vote on law proposed by the Commission, which does give them a certain amount of power. Your second link mentions MEPs doing back-room deals with the Commission and European diplomats, which they certainly couldn't do if they were entirely powerless.

I'm also skeptical on your claim that North Korea is the only other legislature where this secret law-making happens. Other autocracies aside, in any system with political parties, proposed legislation will most likely be circulated within the party for some time; then discussed informally with leaders of other parties that might be necessary for a majority, before it is first presented at a public hearing.

gpderetta8y ago

They can also extensively amend laws and have the right to ask the commission to submit a proposal, and as far as I understand, the commission routinely obliges.

So, while it might not have the jure initiative power, it does de facto.

peoplewindowOP8y ago

The Commission frequently obliges because the EP is stuffed full of wildly unrepresentative EU fans whose proposals are usually of the form, "Please Commission, award yourself more power". This article being a good case in point - they're asking the EU Commission to regulate more at the EU level.

If the EP had made any serious attempt to prevent Brexit, for example by proposing to the Commission to let member states have more control over immigration, they'd simply have been ignored and thus they never both making proposals that they know would get rejected.

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