[Iran Press TV Latest] Former Labour cabinet member and distinguished political activist Tony Benn has challenged Prime Minister Gordon Brown's defense of the European Union's new foreign affairs chief. Briton Catherine Ashton was named Thursday as the new EU foreign policy chief, with many critics questioning her foreign policy credentials as a former EU trade commissioner.
In a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday, Benn criticized the manner in which the top European Parliament jobs were handed.
Although EU membership remains unpopular with a large number of people in the UK, Benn's objection to the bloc stems from democratic concerns rather than nationalistic ones.
"Some people object to the European Union on nationalist ground. I don't. My objection is on democratic ground. Europe is run by appointed people, who are not elected, can not be removed, and therefore do not have to listen to the public," he noted.
He said that Ashton also had been appointed and not elected, therefore could only push for the EU commission's views and policies, while the policy of individual nations could be ignored.
"I don't think it really is a question of qualifications, [but]...how can we have a foreign policy spokesperson, who is not elected by the body? Catherine Ashton has been chosen by the European Commission members, who were all appointed, and she is supposed to talk for the whole of Europe."
"What happens if she says something that is contrary to British foreign policy? What happens if she says something that is contrary to, say, German foreign policy? I think it reveals the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the European Union."
In order to stressing on the need for fundamental reforms within the EU policymaking body, Benn resorted to a comparison between the EU and the United States.
"The difference between the president of the United States, is that he is elected by the American people. The president of European Union is appointed by 27 officials...."
"Although Europe is a very powerful body in the world, it has no democratic mechanism for choosing its leaders or deciding its policy," Benn said.
Ashton was given the powerful post under a deal at the EU summit on Thursday, with Belgium's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy chosen as the EU's first president.
Both jobs were created under the Lisbon Treaty, designed to ease policymaking and management of the 27-naion bloc.