Just a moment...
euromaidanpress.com

A 22-year-old German politician who secretly served in Ukraine’s army now faces expulsion from the pro-Russian Alternative for Germany party after calling his own leadership “Russia-kissers.”

  • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
    11·
    4 days ago

    Can you name such a country please? I only know countries where the head of government is either elected directly or chosen by parliament.

    • iglou@programming.devEnglish
      4·
      4 days ago

      The closest to the exact situation of the EU are Estonia, Germany, and Spain:

      The head of state nominates a candidate for prime minister who is then submitted to parliament for approval before appointment.

      Then you’ve got different, close enough nomination/appointment systems:

      Italy:

      The head of state appoints a prime minister who must gain a vote of confidence within a set time.

      Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, the UK, Denmark, Portugal:

      The head of state appoints a prime minister who will likely have majority support in parliament

      Sweden:

      A public officeholder (other than the head of state or their representative) nominates a candidate, who, if approved by parliament, is appointed as prime minister.

      Then you have some countries close to what you would like:

      Japan, Thailand, Ireland:

      Parliament nominates a candidate whom the head of state is constitutionally obliged to appoint as prime minister.

      Source

      Note that in the case of the EU, the President of the Commission plays the role of the head of government (aka, the equivalent of what most countries call Prime Minister), not head of state. As established in my previous comments, the head of state of the EU is the European Council.

      • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        This is exciting. Like foenkyfjutschah I didn’t know. Thanks a lot for the detailed answer.

        This makes the EU more acceptable but it also shows that Germany is less democratic than expected.

        • iglou@programming.devEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          It’s a tradeoff. It’s still democratic, as the parliament can in all these instances reject a candidate, while bringing stability by not having endless debates in a potentially fractured parliament on who should be nominated.

          Because the head of state doesn’t pick someone randomly, they pick a candidate that will have the approval of the Parliament. So there is still talks, agreements, compromises with parties of the Parliament, so that the nominated candidate is a candidate that would have likely come out of weeks/months of debates and votes.

          The vote that follows the nomination is a safeguard, to prevent a shitty stuborn head of state from imposing their government.

          So the tradeoff is, slightly less democracy (no debate), faster government appointment (which is desirable for the good of everyone), while keeping a democratic safeguard. And it works, that’s why failing votes following the nominations are extremely rare.

      • foenkyfjutschah@programming.devEnglish
        11·
        4 days ago

        it’s actually quiet different in Germany: the parliament elects the chancellor, which would be the equivalent to a prime minister.

        what you proclaim in your post though once ended up very miserable for a lot of the world.

        guten abend!

        • iglou@programming.devEnglish
          4·
          3 days ago

          It’s actually not. Yes, the Chancellor is elected by the Parliament, but after nomination by the President, your head of state.

          Per the German wikipedia article on the Chancellor of Germany:

          Der Bundeskanzler wird auf Vorschlag des Bundespräsidenten vom Bundestag gewählt, anschließend vom Bundespräsidenten ernannt und durch den Bundestagspräsidenten vereidigt.

          And per your Basic Law, Article 63:

          • (1) Der Bundeskanzler wird auf Vorschlag des Bundespräsidenten vom Bundestage ohne Aussprache gewählt.
          • (2) Gewählt ist, wer die Stimmen der Mehrheit der Mitglieder des Bundestages auf sich vereinigt. Der Gewählte ist vom Bundespräsidenten zu ernennen.
          • (3) Wird der Vorgeschlagene nicht gewählt, so kann der Bundestag binnen vierzehn Tagen nach dem Wahlgange mit mehr als der Hälfte seiner Mitglieder einen Bundeskanzler wählen.

          The election of the Chancellor in Germany is just like the election of the President of the European Commission: There is one candidate, either they are voted in, or they are not. If the parliament disagrees with the nominated candidate, then they must elect one themselves, yes. But it has never happened since 1949, and the only close call was Merz.

          You can actually have a look yourself at the list of chancellor elections, and you’ll see that it’s always been a Yes/No vote on the nominated candidate, just like for the Presidence of the European Commission.

          And this Basic Law was ratified after the miserable passage of history you mention.