I don’t fall into one of the traditional pro vs. anti camps.

Of course Barrosa is smug and complacent. Because he knows twats like you (and me) have no earthly way of removing him from his nice comfy post as head of the EU, with substantial perks and a big fat pay cheque and pension.

Its called democracy.

And there is no democracy in the EU.

So why people like you (not me) keep on thinking the EU is such a wonderful thing is beyond me.

Oui, c’est vrai qu’il faut changer de voie politique, mais le problème n’est pas Barroso, c’est le système anti-democratique de l’UE.

L’UE a suivi une politique de dérégulation parce que cette politique est contre la souveraineté des états membres, qui est le seul obstacle du globalismedu modèle anglo-saxon.

Everywhere the connection between politically elected ministers or boards and civil servants is a complicated issue.

But there is no denying that the European Commission is a political actor in an increasing number of policy areas. Ultimately, the impartial and technocratic model does not fly.

Ideally, the Commission should be accountable to and elected by the European Parliament, itself elected by the citizens of the EU.

But in spite of politically accountable “ministers” the Commission would be a civil service.

I agree in that I trust unelected judges and civil servants more than elected ones.

Without thinking deeper about the merits of elections as a panacea, I once wrote a blog post about the unelected House of Lords supporting the unelected Commission.

The EU Committee of the House of Lords does quality work on many EU issues, and the same can be said about the Commission in many cases (despite somewhat worrying trends towards secretariat status).

Anyway, failure to open up a real competition for the post of President of the Commission is a fundamental self-indictment by the European political parties.

I hope that the European blogosphere will keep reminding them of this daily.

A permanent, professional, independent civil service is a necessary component of democracy – and that is pretty much what you have in the Commission. The Commissioners themselves are in that sense something of a compromise, being appointed by the elected leaders of the nation states that comprise Europe instead of rising through the ranks of the service on merit.

This compromise allows Commissioners a legitimate political role which often appears odd to any student of public administration in the UK. But it doesn’t look odd to a student of French or German public administration.

Perhaps we should be bolder in our notions of democracy and follow the US model where all public officials of high rank are elected. But the idea of democratically elected police chiefs and judges does not appeal to me. I want qualified professionals running these public services under the responsibility of someone who is subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

I don’t hear anyone calling for democratic elections to select the Judges of the Court of Justice.

As long as the EU citizens are unable to set the course and elect the rulers the European Union has some, but not enough legitimacy.

The Anyone But Barroso campaign seeks progress in one important aspect of EU democracy, and for this Jon Worth and a number of eurobloggers deserve credit.