Once again the EU is being sidelined to the margins

THE idiosyncrasies of this hybrid democracy that is the EU are once again on display in the lead up toappointing people to the new positions of president and foreign minister.

Sold as offering more democracy, the jobs do no such thing, nor was it ever intended by the member states that they should.

Complaints that the whole exercise of selecting people for the top jobs is not democratic are not really valid, as it is being done entirely by the properly elected national governments. And any grumbling about the secretive nature of the process can be rejected by pointing to the way the head of each government is selected – behind closed doors by the party members.