The Constitution Society: Working to promote informed debate about constitutional reform

Should the EU be more democratic?

The EU needs more democracy:

• The Members of the European Parliament are the only directly elected representatives of the people of Europe within the organs of the European Union.
• The powers of the European Parliament are very limited – for example the Parliament has no power to initiate legislation.  
• The

The EU is adequately democratic:

Many point to the fact that the Parliament may dismiss the Commission and thus validates the belief that the European Union is, ultimately, a democratic organisation.

In many ways the crux of the matter lies in the extensive powers and reach of the European Commission. Although the Commissioners are appointed by the democratically elected governments of each member state, they are not necessarily politicians and need not ever have been elected by anyone to any position. Moreover, the Commission is not only the body which initiates legislation in Europe, it also has the power to issue directives and regulations which are binding on all member states and the mechanisms regarding its accountability are regarded by many as unsatisfactory. It is therefore at the level of the Commission that arguments as to the democratic deficit in Europe tend to rage. The arguments are likely to intensify in the next few years, as the transitional amendments provided for in the Lisbon Treaty gradually fall into place, and the number of Commissioners serving at any one time is capped at 15, which will mean that each member state will only have a Commissioner for 10 years out of every 15. The argument is that the Commissioners are bound to represent the interests of Europe and not of their home nation, but it is almost inevitable that resentment will grow as decisions made by Commission bind all member states.

If we extend the meaning of the word ‘democratic’ to include the concept that those who legislate for us should reflect the society for which they legislate, then the European organs may also be considered to be undemocratic. The Three Councils are overwhelming dominated by white, middle class males. According to Operation Black Vote there are only 10 out of 732 MEPs who are black or of other minority ethnic origin.

One significant objection to the democratic legitimacy of European organs, is that in practically all cases, with the exception of the European Parliament, the deliberations of these organs take place in secret, with only summaries of the their deliberations or decisions being available. The lack of openness calls into question the democratic nature of the European machine.  On the other hand a recent introduction and a product of the Treaty of Lisbon is a provision whereby 1 million citizens across Europe may petition the Commission to consider an issue. It is not yet clear how effective such provision will be in terms of increasing ‘direct democracy’, especially in the light of the fact that the commission is not bound to take any action in respect of such petition.

A further issue is the influence of lobbyists in the European Parliament and the Commission. A recent report suggests that efforts to introduce a voluntary code of conduct of lobbyists have not been entirely effective and this, combined with the fact that deliberations of so many organs and committees take place in private, means that there are concerns that commercial interests may have an undue influence over the decision making process in Europe.

What is the point of voting in European elections when the power is vested in the European Commission?

In defending the accusation of a democratic deficit in Europe, the argument is often made that the legitimacy of the Commission is guaranteed by the fact that the European Parliament has the power to confirm appointments and to remove Commissioners from office. However, it only tends to compound the democratic deficit if the turnout at European elections is low. Turnouts have been in steady decline since 1979, falling to well below 50% at the last election.  It is sometimes said that apathy at the polls means that an electorate gets the representation that it deserves. Higher levels of voting and commitment by the general public not only improves the legitimacy of the elected bodies, but also brings greater pressure to bear on those elected representatives to fulfil their duties.

By contrast others argue that the large and unwieldy structure of the Commission, based far away from the UK, mean that no matter who is in office in Brussels, the Commissioners and the Commission in general is bound to be out of touch with the people affected by the decisions it makes and that the fact that the public have no direct method of demonstrating their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the Commission cannot be cured by the election of individuals to a completely different body.