A Critical Assessment Of The White Paper On European Governance

| Party politics, government, opposition, public administration, public policy, developed assemblies, local government, pressure groups, public opinion, EU institutions, international organisations

The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 different countries. It consists of about half a billion citizens, and its combined economy represents about 20 percent of the world’s total economy (Briney, 2015). Today The European Union works as a single market, with free movement of people, goods and services from one country to another. There is a standard system of laws to be followed, and since 1999 many countries share a single currency called the Euro (Europa.eu, 2015). This essay will explore the background history of the European Union and the benefits and drawbacks of the European Union.

When identifying the presence of a democratic deficit in the European Union, it is important to consider a range of factors, including international treaties and the effect they had on its structured governmental framework. One of the first official agreements established by the European Union (formerly

Further, the Commission’s institutional structure is a factor putting great weight on perceptions of the democratic deficit since it lacks democratic credentials yet largely dominates EU law-making in spite of the presence of the EP as its democratic face. Commissioners are not elected, directly nor indirectly, as is with most sovereign executives. Follesdal and Hix however argue that the exercise of these executive powers requires contestation of political leadership and policy. They also suggest that direct elections by citizens or national parliaments should be allowed for the contestation of the Commission President who holds the most powerful EU executive position, so as to increase democratic input. Contrary to this position is that of Moravcsik, who discounts the idea of elections as a possible remedy and rejects the notion of

There is no single body that can be described as the Union’s legislature. Both the Council and the Parliament play significant roles in the process. The European Parliament is frequently accused of democratic deficit. In particular, there are two separate issues to consider: one relates to its composition and another is connected to the engagement of citizens in Parliament. First of all, the European Parliament initially consisted of delegates designated by the Parliaments of Member States, but since 1979, it has been directly elected by the people according to the national electoral system of each Member State. Undoubtedly, that reform helped to overcome the democratic deficit to some extent. Nevertheless, the European Parliament is often criticized of failing to generate much commitment and

In this assignment I will be assessing the democratic accountability of the European Union. I will begin by briefly describing the institutions, their functions, compositions and discuss how they work as check and balance system to ensure democratic accountability further to look on to how laws are made and what they are In order to establish whether or not the EU is in fact answerable to its citizens.

The European Union (EU) is fundamentally democratic and is evident through its institutions, however, the current democratic electoral structure is of great concern. The EU is a new type of political system, often referred to as a sui generis, implying its uniqueness as there exists and a non comparable political body. The EU can neither regarded as a ‘state’ nor as an ‘international institution’ as it combines supranational as well as intergovernmental characteristics (Hix, 1999, p7). In this regard it has developed its own understandings of what democracy is. It is evident that the development of and spread of democracy is a central concept and foundation to all politics within the EU, and remains focuses on makings its governing

Peter A. Hall is Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies and the Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. Daniel W. Gingerich is a Graduate Associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and a Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University. Peter A. Hall phall@fas.harvard.edu Daniel W. Gingerich gingeric@fas.harvard.edu

Nowadays, European Union is not a state; it can be defined as an association of corporate bodies, including the part states and the European Institutions .It has built up another sort of political framework that goes past the traditional intergovernmentalism and has considerable components of supra-nationality. Before it was made, it was almost impossible to develop a political arrangement of majority rule administration separated from the institutionalized country state model.The improvement of the Union has

One of the sources examined in this paper was that of Giandomenico Majone’s article “Europe’s ‘Democratic Deficit’: The Question of Standards”. This article’s purpose was to factor in what definition was to be used for the democratic deficit. In this article Majone separates the two parties influenced by the democratic deficit: The European Community (EC) and the European Union (EU). The democratic deficit then that is used for this paper is taken strictly from the definition used by Majone, “Technocratic decision-making, lack of transparency, insufficient public participation, excessive use of administrative discretion, inadequate mechanisms of control and accountability – that arise whenever important policymaking powers are delegated to

The European Union has greatly evolved over the decades since it has begun into a well-evolved quasi-state of over 28 countries, and over five hundred million citizens. The European Union has been regarded as a method to bring democratic stability and economic prosperity to less developed democracies in East and Central Europe. While the European Union has a mandate to bring all of these standards, the European Union lacks these basic standards for their overall institution. This structural problem has given the European Union its own ‘democratic deficit’. The rise of the democratic deficit has arisen from many undemocratic characteristics of EU institutions, and a lack of a demos or a lack of a single socio cultural European identity. In order for a political body to remain legitimate, it must have the trust and support of the citizens it governs, and makes changes for the continuation of its future. In other words, if the European Union does not take action to combat its democratic deficit, the future of the European Unions institution will be at risk. Another serious issue is the European Union has seen democratic backsliding of many Eastern European countries. This paper will discuss the major issues that the Democratic Deficit has caused for the European Union, and what possible reforms can be done to help fix the democratic deficit.

The European Union has greatly evolved over the decades since it has begun into a well-evolved quasi-state of over 28 countries, and over five hundred million citizens. The European Union has been regarded as a method to bring democratic stability and economic prosperity to less developed democracies in East and Central Europe. Although the European Union has a mandate to bring all of these standards, the European Union lacks these basic standards for their overall institution. This structural problem has given the European Union its own ‘democratic deficit’. The rise of the democratic deficit has arisen from many undemocratic characteristics of EU institutions, and a lack of a demos or a lack of a single socio cultural European identity. In order for a political body to remain legitimate, it must have the trust and support of the citizens it governs, and make changes for the continuation of its future. In other words, if the European Union does not take action to combat its democratic deficit, the future of the European Unions institution will be at risk. Another serious issue is the European Union has seen democratic backsliding of many Eastern European countries. This paper will discuss the major issues that the Democratic Deficit has caused for the European Union, and what possible reforms can be done to help fix the democratic deficit.

Wednesday, September 13, a cold and ominous fog was present in Strasbourg, a mood antithetical to the mood in the European Parliament. A mood that had been missing for many years, a sense of optimism and hope. As President of the European Commission this new sense of optimism for the European project gave this year’s State of the European Union address a weight that had not been seen in too long. It is no secret that in 2016 Europe was battered and bruised to its very foundation. The forces trying to destroy the EU seemed unstoppable, but it is said that times of extreme crisis bring about the greatest change because people are most persuaded to act swiftly and decisively. For the EU in 2016 there was no shortage of crises, whether it be

“If the Euro fails, then not only the currency fails… Europe will fail, and, with it, the idea of European unity.” Merkel’s words preclude the diminishing consensus within European Union, no matter the attempts to solidify support within Europe. The 2008 Eurozone crisis has lead to distrust and unease in Europe. The Treaty of Lisbon (2009) was the re-organisation of the European Union policy-making structure after the pillar formation of the Treaty of Maastricht (1993). The Treaty of Lisbon, no matter how triumphantly proclaimed to the people, has given increasing control to the European Parliament and other intergovernmental bodies, and less in the hands of the states or the people. This, coupled with dissatisfaction of the EU and an

There is a consensus on the positive effect of European integration on at least one aspect of national politics, one being the strengthening of the executive power. This is due to the fact that the executive has direct access to European policy-making and policy-makers in the Council, in the European institutions and other Member States