> They aren’t directly elected, but the minister is from the government of each country, which is elected (at least as most understand the term)
Many ministers are initially elected to posts in their national parliament and then promoted into a government job. But this is not a real requirement, and many aren't. And even those that we elected, we elected for national jobs, not for the EU, and I do think that that makes a difference. This is what I mean by indirect legitimation.
> Parliament is directly elected
Yes.
And that leaves the Commission, which is mostly former-ministers-who-need-a-job and are appointed based on negotiations between the governments.
Unless your country has joined the EU since your last election then you know you know you are electing a government head. Technically you tend to vote for a local representative who then elect the head of governemt but that’s not how people see it, just like they think they vote for Trump or Biden, but they actually vote for electors who could vote for anyone.
Generally we don’t have a directly elected ministers in Europe, just like the US don’t elect the Secretary of State, they are selected by the head of government. Unlike the US they tend to be elected people.
> Unless your country has joined the EU since your last election then you know you know you are electing a government head. [...] Generally we don’t have a directly elected ministers in Europe, [...] they are selected by the head of government.
This is all mostly true. But also very indirect, yes? I remember the discussions about the EU constitution project and the treaty of Lisbon, and this system with national government representatives was sold to us as a necessary democratic counterweight to the "dominance" of the most populous states (especially Germany) in Parliament. I acknowledge the need for some kind of balancing between pure population majority one the one hand and the needs of smaller states on the other hand. A proper elected "upper house" similar to the US Senate, with a fixed number (more than two!) of members from each member state, would be vastly superior to the current system.
(Also, when the corrupt Austrian government collapsed last year, it was replaced for half a year with an "expert cabinet", with a chancellor and ministers who were all very capable and all, but not politicians, and never elected for any position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bierlein_government They did refrain from big EU-level moves, but nothing would have stopped them.)
Many ministers are initially elected to posts in their national parliament and then promoted into a government job. But this is not a real requirement, and many aren't. And even those that we elected, we elected for national jobs, not for the EU, and I do think that that makes a difference. This is what I mean by indirect legitimation.
> Parliament is directly elected
Yes.
And that leaves the Commission, which is mostly former-ministers-who-need-a-job and are appointed based on negotiations between the governments.