The Socialist leader Martin Schulz is convinced it is “a victory for the European Parliament”. It is always good to think positively, but sadly some people seem to have gone a step farther and reached the mistaken conclusion that the postponement of the vote to approve the new European commission represents a striking demonstration of democracy in action. An easy mistake.

They must be disabused of this impression immediately, while the Parliament figures itself out and forces the commission into limbo. The real issue is whether we are getting what we want out of the institution: the erudite people, the intricate policies and the grand buildings. Strasbourg’s blue-glass complex, for instance, is meant to represent “democracy in motion” — perhaps it refers to those MEPs who simply sign in and then leave the building, thus ensuring them an allowance. Unfortunately, more than the usual number of democratic pranksters were planning to be in the Parliament yesterday, meaning that José Manuel Durão Barroso, the incoming and honourable president, was forced to delay the inauguration of his, generally, well-chosen commission.

If democracy was at the heart of the Parliament’s thinking, generous-spirited MEPs could vote to convert the 220,000sq m complex, its 750-seat debating chamber, 1,100 offices, 29 conference rooms, four bars and three restaurants, into a homeless persons’ hostel. Do not the needy, more than the nerdy, deserve to sit upon those high-design Vitra chairs? To inhabit the coronet-shaped tower and revel in that curvilinear chamber? It is the least that could be done to prevent democratic destitution.