The Democratic Accountability Of The European Union Essay

The EU was created after the Second World War to unite the neighboring countries of Europe. It was established by six European countries in 1951: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Netherlands and West Germany (Briney, 2015). Today it consists of 28 countries united to create an economic and political community (Gov.uk, 2014).

Three bodies run the European Union. The EU Council represents national governments. The European Parliament is elected by the people. The European Commission ensures that all members act consistently in regional, agricultural, and social procedures. The three bodies maintain the laws governing the Union in these three ways: The European Union Council sets the policies and proposes new legislation. The political leadership, is held by a different head every six months.The European Parliament debates and approves the laws proposed by the Council. Its members are elected every five years. The European Commission staffs and enacts the laws. The European Union has an area called the Schengen Area which covers 26 out of 28 countries of the Union. This warranted movement to those living within its borders. Citizens and visitors can go across borders without showing passports or getting visas. The only time you would get stopped is random checks for drugs or crime. In addition, they won't tax any products manufactured in specific countries that would be sold to another member country. Practitioners can operate in any country of the Union that they

The European Union (EU) is economic and political union which is located in Europe in Brussels. It consists of 785 members representing the 492 million citizens of the 27 Member States of The European Union. Countries which join EU are Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. EU is elected every 5 years throughout all the Members States.

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

Where does the power in the EU lie? Is it in the member States or the government? Or does the power lie in certain components of the EU such as, the Commission, the Council, the Parliament or the Court of Justice. There is no clear cut answer and the division of responses to this question from the class supports this.

The European Commission – The commission is the EU’s administrative and executive body, it is headed by a president and has a further 24 commissioners.

The European Court of Justice not only ensures that the interpretation and application of the Treaties law are observed but also that the Member States do not exceed the bounds of their competence. The EU does not have jurisdiction on every aspect of law, there are limits. The powers of the EU are decided through the EU Treaties which are agreed by the member government. The process requires the EU governments to agree on the different areas the EU can legislate. The EU can only act within the areas they have been given power and nothing else. It is the government of the member states that allow the EU their power. There are different types of Competence: Exclusive Competence, Shared Competence and Implied Competence.

Everything we do or decide is influenced by politics. In the UK, there are many different levels of Government that have an impact on our lives. One of these levels is the European Union. The three main EU Institution are the European Commission, which promotes the common interest and the current president of the European Commission is Jose Manuel Barroso; the European Council and the Council, which is the voice of the Members States and the current president of the European Council is Herman Van Rompuy; the European Parliament that although is not part of the UK levels of government, it has a significant impact on European Union citizens. The European Parliament, together with the Council, debates and passes European laws and adopts the EU’s budget. The European Parliament has 736 members who represents all 27 members’ states of the EU. Its main role is to delegate legislation on issues such as transport, environment, equal opportunities and movement of workers and goods. In conclusion, the European Parliament is the voice of the people. The president of the European Parliament is Martin Schutz.

Executive power in the EU is shared between the European Commission and the Council of EU. The Commission plays a major role in the EU’s policy-making process as EU laws are mainly enforced by Commission action. One of the distinct functions of the Commission is initiating proposals for legislation. The Commission is the main institution preparing proposals. However, concerning common foreign and security policy and co-operation on justice and home affairs, the Council is the promoter of initiatives and also the institution implementing the policies. But the Commission may submit a proposal. The Commission has also the budgetary initiative, drawing up the preliminary draft budget, which is put to the Council.

Legitimacy in the European Union”, JCMS, 40/4, 603-24. ] This concept of a “democratic deficit” first emerged in the draft treaty for the European Union which as we know led to the establishment of the Single European Act of 1986 whose main purpose was to “rectify the democratic deficit in the community decision making process”[ Zweifel, T, “Who without Sin Cast the First Stone: the EU”, p812-40, Democratic Deficit in Comparison.” 2002. Journal of European Public Policy]; already it is apparent the enormous debate around the European Union and a democratic deficit stretching as far back to 1986. Following the numerous unsuccessful attempts to harmonize the change in the Union’s structure, the democratic deficit argument really began to gain power and rumours of its collapse became more dominant than ever. This debate has deepened drastically over the past two or so decades, with scholarly commentators as well as members of the European public all in agreement that the European Union is in fact

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.

Democracy in the European Union (EU) has been described by academics ranging from “a classical case of a gradual de-democratisation through integration”, to “opaque, technocratic, and distant from its citizens”. The EU began as an economic union with 6 initial members for integrating Franco-German production of coal and steel following Robert Schuman’s proposal in the 1950s. It has now become a progressive political union, experiencing many innovations and changes in numerous fields right from the ECSC to the Lisbon treaty. Today, the EU has 28 members representing almost 500 million people. The expansion has resulted in the uprising of new complex problems, democratic deficit being the most pivotal. Christopher Lord defined democratic deficit as ‘insufficiently representative of, or accountable to, the nations and the people of Europe’. The phrase was first used by David Marquand in 1979, referring to the then European Economic Community. Democratic deficit ' in relation to the European Union, refers to a perceived lack of accessibility to the ordinary citizen, or lack of representation of the ordinary citizen, and lack of accountability of European Union institutions. The complex and distant nature of the European institutions have contributed to this argument. This essay discusses the European institutions involved in the legislative process before going on to evaluate the role played by national parliament to combat the deficit, taking into

European Commission : Considered as the “Guardian of the European Union”, the commission represents the interests of EU, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the EU, initiates legislations, draws budget, is accountable for the goals set by the treaties and it can also begin conversations. With the help of the ECJ, the Commission can also take warn and take proper steps against respective states who have disobeyed the regulations, decisions or directives set by the EU. It is said to be EU’s “politically independent executive arm”. The members are 28 in number, each from each member country, being headed by the President. The President is first selected by the European Council, and then he has to pass the by majority vote in the

Decision-making at the European Union comprises three main institutions; the European Commission (comprises all the member states), the European Parliament (its composition is governed by the founding treaties, and the Act of September 20, 1976 on election of members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage.) and the Council of the European Union (comprises of representatives