Comment by rwmj

The Commission is made up of member states and they often push through unpopular proposals that they'd never get through their home legislatures, a process known as "policy laundering". When an unpopular measure comes from the EU they can say "oh look, bad Brussels / bad EU made us do it", even when it was their own suggestion in the first place. The UK government has a particular history here, which is why it's ironic that we're attempting to leave the EU.