Madam, - John McGuirk of Libertas is reported (April 1st) to believe that the EU is "in no way directly accountable to you as citizens" and he implies that this is a serious defect.
If it is a defect, it is one shared by the Government of Ireland, which is not directly accountable to the Irish people, but to Dáil Éireann (Article 28.4.1º of the Constitution).
Among the institutions of the EU, the Council is accountable to the democratically-elected governments of the member-states; the European Parliament is directly accountable to us as citizens of the Union; and the Commission is accountable to the parliament to about the same extent as the Irish Civil Service is to the Dáil, i.e. in principle removable for malfeasance, in practice unlikely to be dismissed.
Patricia McKenna has, I think, been misreported as describing Ireland as "having its own commissioner for only five in every 15 years". The correct figure is 10 in every 15 years.
However, "having" must here be understood in a very limited sense: the member-states which will "have" commissioners will be unable (as is the case today) to give them instructions or to use them as agents. Therefore, these member-states will be at no significant advantage over those which are temporary have-nots. And the EU as a whole will benefit from having a less bloated Commission. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY, Avenue Louise, Brussels, Belgium.