The parliament definitely needs legislative initiative. It's the main deficiency with EU democracy that I can see.
The EU's core problem is that it doesn't really deal with people's day-to-day concerns in a way they can understand. It deals with them at at least one remove most of the time.
So, codecision and making the Commission President not owe their place to either Parliament or Council sould be a good thing.
Also, how the President is selected has nothing to do with how they are removed. One could still allow the EP to impeach them, to confirm the appointments of the commissioners, etc. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
What makes you think that a directly elected President would be more likely to act on an issue like the CIA prison/flight scandal than a directly elected Parliament? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The less the people in the various institutions owe their seats to each other (or to the same outside agent) the better. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
You want the EU to take on the job of strengthening local government? "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
Subsidiarity is a great thing. Higher instances of government should concentrate on setting minimum standards and facilitating coordination. Day-to-day concerns should not be the province of the national governments either. I'd strengthen both the EU and the local governments. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
The EU is wretchedly bad at is promoting itself. This is partly because it's not unified ideologically, but also because there's no mechanism which links people's experience of the benefits to their source.
In my (UK based) experience, when money becomes available, it's discussed in very remote terms. Someone in a country far away decides to offer money... and local people are happy to take it. But there doesn't seem to be any feeling of relationship with the source of the money. It might as well be the tooth fairy or Santa Claus.
This is very, very bad, because it enforces an assumption of non-participation. Us vs them is much less coherent than us here vs us there.
So the feeling of local intervention and interest matters a lot. If handled properly, it could do a lot to create political and social coherence.
since that's where the majority of the corruption is, i agree.
local government is also often corrupt and inefficient, but the damage is less catastrophic.
hopefully accountability will improve with growing awareness, stimulated by blogs like this. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
In Spain the biggest source of corruption are land reclassifications and infrastructure building contracts. Most of this is politically under local government, except for the big national infrastructure like high-speed rail. "It's the statue, man, The Statue."
idem with italy and the land reclassifications and infrastructure building contracts, not receiving media attention.
the corruption i was referring to is around military-industrial spending and secret service shenanigans, rendition policies etc. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
