http://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20220707-172741-0 https://verfassungsblog.de/untying-the-ties-that-dont-bind/ Untying the Ties that (don’t) Bind - The European Council’s Discretion to Exclude Democratically Unaccountable Representatives Cotter, John eng 2022-07-07 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Article 265 TFEU Babis Charles Michel EU European Council Orban Rule of Law Wagenknecht Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 In his letter to MEP Daniel Freund of 17 June 2022, European Council President Charles Michel argued that neither he, as President, nor the European Council have the power to exclude democratically unaccountable representatives of a Member State from that institution. But President Michel’s apparent recourse to a literal reading of Article 15(2) TEU – which fails to consider its relationship with other provisions relating to the composition of the European Council – is not convincing.