Dear Sir,
Jason Freeman overlooks two points in his response to your December Commentary.
Firstly, the appointed officials he cites – civil servants, judges, governor of the Bank of England – have no political authority, whereas the unelected President of the European Commission deals on an equal level with the elected Prime Ministers and Presidents of EU member countries. The Commission has no democratic legitimacy comparable with the UK Government, whose members have all been elected by universal suffrage. The European model reflects the French system, where the elected President nominates ministers who do not have be elected Members of Parliament.