Barroso is elected, what are you talking about?

Oh yeah forgot about the Flemish, Walloons, Bretons, Cornish, Moravians, Italian northern league........Yeah bring them all to Brussels on big fat expenses cheques and lovely grants.

I said unelected, check the post............unless you count being elected by the parliament itself.

Barroso was appointed.

Moravians? Are you kidding?

Barroso was elected to the EP. He's "appointed" the same way a Prime Minister is "appointed".

But I don't like him.

You don't like anyone.

''Moravians? Are you kidding?''

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravan%C3%A9

I think you're mistaken, Putin. He was never an MEP.

He was appointed the European Commissioner for Portugal (a non-elected post) and then from that role he was nominated as Commission President by his party, the EPP, after their strong results in the 2004 European elections. The European Council decided to endorse the nomination and he was made Commission President.

I can see no record of Barroso ever being publicly elected to any office outside of the Portugese parliament.

I'm aware of that, but your post implied that there is a serious separatist movement in Moravia. Which this definitely isn't.

I wonder if Barosso was actually elected to the parliament. I am not sure, reference please.

Fair point.

@Fairfax, I am sure that you are right. If, however, a favourable deal is cut for an emergent Sottish nation you can expect these separatist movements to all receive a short in the arm. That was my point, sorry for being obtuse.

sorry shot rather than short :-)

How is not being elected?

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2009-09-18/news/pn-meps-welcome-election-of-jose-manuel-barroso-263431/

You said this : ''Barroso was elected to the EP.''

I think that you are wrong. He was never elected to the European parliament (EP)

''He's "appointed" the same way a Prime Minister is "appointed".

No, I think that you are wrong, Prime Ministers are first elected to the UK parliament and only then, after that, appointed.

He was elected by the MEPs to be European Commissioner.

"Prime Ministers are first elected to the UK parliament and only then, after that, appointed."

That's only by convention. Legally that is not a requirement.

Whatever.....................it is clear that he was never ''elected to the EP''. Only those who can't admit to making a mistake and/or are deliberately trying to muddy the waters would maintain such a position.

You claimed he was unelected period. I admit that he was not elected to the EP. Will you admit to your mistake? Doubt it.

Yawn, I said this several posts ago.......

''I said unelected, check the post............unless you count being elected by the parliament itself.''

Is there anything else I can help you with?

Why did you call him unelected if he was elected?

OK, enough of that. I maintain, and have forced you to agree, that the President of the European Parliament was not elected by a public vote to that very parliament. In that very profound and common usage sense he was indeed unelected. Why do you still wish to muddy the waters?

You're trying to insinuate that the President is somehow illegitimate, when in fact he has more support than your own Prime Minister from the parliament he was elected by.

Spain has a problem with recognizing separatist territories that are not recognized by the country they are attempting to secede from. The U. K. is ready to recognize a referendum result. While Catalan separatists will undoubtedly try to draw parallels with Scotland as is in line with their signature opportunistic strategies, the Spanish Government should have every reason to rightly emphasize that Scottish legal history is very different from Catalonia's.

@ Putin: "He was elected by the MEPs to be European Commissioner"

Again, no, sorry, you're mistaken. European Commissioners are not selected via a vote of MEPs. They are directly appointed by the head of government of their member state. So, for example, the UK's current Commissioner is Baroness Ashton. The process for her to become a Commissioner was as follows:

1. In 2008 Peter Mandelson stepped down from his role as the UK's Commissioner.

2. The Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, chose Baroness Ashton to be Mandelson's replacement.

3. And, um, that's it.

So, yeah, MEP's did not "elect" Barroso to become a European Commissioner because no such election takes place. That simply isn't the process.

Jamie, before a government announces their candidate for the European Commission there is a fair amount of negotiations and lobbying between governments. So your assertion that they are just selected by the head of government is at the very least a gross simplification (I would say misrepresentation even) of the real process. Also IIRC, although the European Parliament doesn't select the candidates, they still have to be approved by them before they actually become Commissioner.

A vote of approval.isn't an election though. There is only one "candidate". An election generally has at least two or the option to write in when a candidate runs unopposed.