EU Premier or President
IMO, not an insignificant difference -- and given that Ireland has both, such a confusion is the more glaring. The EU's de-facto Premier is the President of the Commission, and that regardless of whether the President of the European Council will remain the low-key chairman or be turned into an "EU President" as per Bliar's and Sarko's wishes.
Some Federalist EU supporters mights like the post to evolve into "the public face of the EU"
Nah, more the Confederationists: the intergovermentalists.
it reflects a yearning for a more accessible, visible, accountable and coherent face of the EU
How will a Council President Blair be a more accessible, visible, accountable and coherent face of the EU than a Commission President Barroso?
And why hasn't this yearning you analyse materialise in a practice to call Barroso EU Premier? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I'm not saying this is right or logical, but for whatever reason the popular conception of the post seems to regard it as more of their representative - rather than a representative of the "Brussels Democracy" - and insofar as this improves the democratic legitimacy of the EU, this is not necessarily a bad thing. notes from no w here
I think the same logic could apply regarding the bureaucrat/politically elected figure perceptions, too. (And at least my perception of Barroso is not that of a bureaucrat...) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
English-language MSM.
it may not altogether be a bad thing that they are perceived so differently
That wasn't your original point :-) But I still don't see it. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
