Democratic deficit

Question 1

what is democratic deficit?

Answer 1

• lack of democracy
• EU citizens do not feel that they can hold the EU institutions accountable, in particular through direct elections, in the same way that they can their national governments

Question 2

before the Lisbon Treaty what were the criticisms of the EU’s democratic deficit?

Answer 2

• parliamentary legitimacy = fundamental representative and parliamentary characteristics of the EU were insufficient
• technocratic legitimacy = EU’s policymaking processes are dominated by bureaucracies and governments - little scope for national parliaments of the EP to intervene

Question 3

what are four clear ways that the Lisbon Treaty attempts to boost democracy in the EU?

Answer 3

1. an expansion of powers to the European Parliament
2. An expansion of powers to national parliaments
3. a reworking of the way that EU commission exercises its implementing powers
4. the introduction of a process by which EU citizens can try to influence EU law-making directly

Question 4

how have the powers of the European Parliament been expanded?

Answer 4

• European Parliament is now co-legislator with the council

Question 5

what is the expansion of the powers to national parliaments?

Answer 5

• European commission must keep national parliaments up to date with its legislative activities
• council has to send national parliaments agendas and documents that set out the outcomes of council meetings
• commission has to explain to national parliaments how every legislative proposal it introduces meets the requirements of art 10 TEU

Question 6

how has the way the EU commission exercises its implementing powers been reworked?

Answer 6

• EU’s processes become more transparent
• more substantial oversight of the commission’s implementing powers by other EU institutions

Question 7

what process was introduced by which EU citizens can try to influence EU law-making directly?

Answer 7

the Citizens’ initiative

Question 8

what is the citizens’ initiative?

Answer 8

a million EU citizens from different member states can sign a petition and send it to the Commission in order to stimulate legislation being produced

but it does not force the commission to adopt or scrap legislation

Question 9

what is the democratic legitimacy of the European Council tied to?

Answer 9

the health of national democracies

Question 10

even after the Lisbon treaty, what does the EU lack?

Answer 10

a political decision-making body created in equal elections by all citizens of the Union and with the ability to uniformly represent the will of the sovereign European people