International Institutions - The EU and Democratic Deficit

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Christophe Crombez - 'The Democratic Deficit in the European Union'

Intake of new members complicated policy-making

Tightening of the qualified majority requirements in the Council and the increases in the numbers of Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) may reduce effectiveness

Larger relative weight of smaller countries in the Commission may lead to a decline in democratic legitimacy

EU institutions suffering from a 'democratic deficit', a lack of democratic accountability

Jean-Luc Dehaene (former Belgian PM) - "It is a fact that the institutional structure of the Union has, in recent years, shown signs of strain"

Concept of 'democratic deficit' is not clearly defined by many who write about it

EU Parliament - only directly elected segment

WHAT IS A DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT?

Two distinct approaches; 1). output of political processes - the legislation and regulations that emerge from it, 2). whether the voters get what they want - whether their policy preferences are reflected in the output

Trade-off in democratic systems between giving the majority its way and protecting the rights of minorities

Distance between the median voter and the outcome of a political process can be considered a reasonably good measure of the democratic deficit of the process

The political process needs to be transparent and it should not involve too many steps of delegation - because delegation introduces noise

For the public to have an opinion on issues being discussed, it need to know what goes on in the political process, which requires transparency of the process

EU does not function well as a democracy because there is no European public opinion, no European electorate

Sanchez-Cuenca (2000) - popular support for the EU can be enhanced by the efficient functioning of its institutions

Distance between EU policy and the median voter's ideal policy as a measure of the democratic deficit

IS THERE A 'DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT' IN THE EU?

Three institutions involved in the legislative process - Upper house (the Council), which represents different states the form the union, Lower House (the Parliament), which represents the people, and the Executive (the Commission), which is a body that is directly elected or appointed by the Upper/Lower house

The executive proposes a policy > the upper and lower houses can amend the proposal > the upper and lower houses vote on the amended proposal

EU members directly elect the Parliament, and the member countries are represented in the Council

QMV consists of 255/345 votes and a majority of the member countries, representing at least 62% of the EU population

The allocation of seats across member countries, results in undemocratic policies

If the EU institutions were all directly elected by EU voters and each vote had equal weight, the ideal policies could be expected to be close to the EU median voter

Only the Parliament is directly elected, and its elections are often fought on national issues - smaller countries overrepresented in it

MEPs of smaller countries represent fewer votes than a majority consisting of MEPs of larger countries

QMV rule makes it harder for the smaller countries to form a coalition and pass legislation

Countries representing at least 58% of EU voters need to support a proposal for adoption

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

The institutional setup of the EU is not fundamentally undemocratic - it can function democratically

Euro-sceptics want to concentrate powers in the hands of the nation-states and thus want the Council to play a more important role

Euro-federalists want a more important role for the Parliament

At each major round of institutional reforms, the debate has resurfaced

The problem of the democratic deficit may rest on a lack of information and an excess of delegation - EU could enhance its democratic legitimacy by improving the functioning of its institutions

Open Council meetings could contribute to a better understanding of the legislative process and allow voters to monitor it better

Direct election of the Commission president, and the appointment of the Commission by the Parliament