Not exactly; the European Commission does draft laws and monitor them, much like our unelected policy makers. That being said it does not pass laws, it therefore does not have complete power with regards to lawmaking. The Council of Ministers and the European Parliament has to agree by majority before any bill is passed.
Moreover around 13% of our Acts and Statutes have been influenced by EU law; the institution is far from an all-encompassing bureaucracy that prevents countries from primarily deciding for themselves how they are to be run. Besides, out of that 13%, the UK was on the side of the majority vote 87% of the time.
If your local MP represents a party which has policies and values that you oppose, you are every bit as powerless at influencing an Act of Parliament as you usually are at influencing an EU legislation. For an example: the Conservative Party only needs a majority of seats in Parliament in order to be virtually unstoppable. Other the general elections and referendum's such as the recent "Brexit" one, the common folk usually do not have a say in the running of this country.
There are but with the anti-immigration rhetoric spreading throughout the country, do you think the public wants to "live together" and be brothers and sisters? To me the right to live and work in any EU member state and be given the same privileges and opportunities that citizens of that state enjoyed is invaluable.
I do understand where you'r coming from; like I said the EU was by no means perfect, but I strongly believe that it was a good thing that just required some reformations from within.
The only ones we elect are the MEPs are there power is just to vote and negotiate. That is all. The power to propose or repeal is with the un-elected commissioners.
This is not AT ALL like the UK Parliament. Every 5 years we vote - we know who the MPs. There are no back flips or gymnastics that need to be performed. Legislation that is proposed is based of the mandate the existing government has.
Your MP has a constituency link with you and has an obligation to hold surgeries as well as being held to account by the local council, the national government and ultimately an ombudsman. It is also in the interests of the MP to appeal to the people. There's no getting voted in a region and then running off to Brussels for four years to hide and be unaccountable. The checks and balances on MPs are far greater and you can change your MP after 5 years.
The figure you cite is deflated, in recent years as much as 50% if not more has been directives by the EU. There have been 72 instances (at least) in which EU directives were not in Britain's interest and voted against but we had to accept them anyway. On some occasions British members of the Council of Europe voted against UKs self-interests.
The EU is incredibly bureaucratic - it takes ages to make decisions as it's negotiation after negotiation and red tape after red tape. The 2010 coalition was loathed for not delviering on party policies as too many compromises had to be made - now imagine that on the scale of a super-state hich is what the EU fancies itself as.
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Topic: Brexit - yes or no?