Democratic deficit in the European Union
Encyclopedia
Democratic deficit in the European Union is a term used to refer to the view that the EU
lacks democracy, arguably due to a lack of legitimacy in its institutions and/or lack of influence on the part of its citizens. Opinions differ on how to remedy this, and it is also argued that the deficit is structural, i.e. cannot be resolved without changing the nature of the Union.
in 1979, referring to the then European Economic Community
, the forerunner of the European Union
. '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 democratic deficit has been called a 'structural democratic deficit', in that it is inherent in the construction of the European Union as a supranational union
that is neither a pure intergovernmental organization, nor a true federal state. The German Constitutional Court, for instance, argues that decision-making processes in the EU remain largely those of an international organization, which would ordinarily be based on the principle of the equality of states. The principle of equality of states and the principle of equality of citizens cannot be reconciled in a Staatenverbund. In other words, in a supranational union or confederation (which is not a federal state) there is a problem of how to reconcile the principle of equality among nation states, which applies to international (intergovernmental) organizations, and the principle of equality among citizens, which applies within nation states.
, who claims that the European Union has made Executives more accountable to their citizens. He notes that the actions of government ministers are no longer scrutinised simply at home, but in a wider European context and that ministers at home are no longer held to account solely for their domestic record, but also for their actions in Brussels
- as for instance is demonstrated by some of the criticism Tony Blair
received after concessions made over the UK rebate
in 2005.
A more general point not related to Moravcsik's argument is that already mentioned, namely that the European Parliament has received a notable increase in powers since the Maastricht Treaty, with mechanisms such as co-decision procedures (between the Council of Ministers and European Parliament) being introduced and adopted in many policy areas. The European Parliament has also acquired something of a de facto
scrutinising role where the conduct of Commissioners is concerned as evidenced by the resignation of the Santer Commission
in 1999 under EP pressure in addition to explicit powers to veto Commission lineups - a power used in 2004 against the Barroso Commission
. Nevertheless the debate over whether the European Union has increased the power of executives vis a vis parliaments remains highly contentious and should be considered in the context of increasing globalisation and security fears following 11 September.
The claim of executive dominance at European level is exaggerated, since this merely reproduces the informal situation at national level. There is a local form of executive dominance
, as on average less than 15% of legislative initiatives from MPs become law when they don't have the backing of the executive, further more proposal from the executives become law, usually unamended.
According to R. Daniel Kelemen, EU laws are more detailed than those of member states; in a similar way to federal states, the legal system is used to achieve political compliance by the member states, because of the decentralized nature of the political system. Decisions are taken at the EU level, but are overwhelmingly implemented by member states. In contrast, within member states, the same agents are usually responsible for both decision making and implementation. Thus EU law encroaches on the executive powers of national governments.
Voting in the council is usually done by qualified majority voting, and sometimes unanimity is required. This means that for the vast majority of EU legislation the corresponding national government has usually voted in favor in the Council. To give an example, up to September 2006, out of the 86 pieces of legislation adopted in that year the government of the United Kingdom
had voted in favor of the legislation 84 times, abstained from voting twice and never voted against.
is powerless is claimed to be due to its recent past as a consultative assembly and the implicit comparison with national parliament
s, but this comparison arguably leads to false conclusions. Important differences from national parliaments are the role of committees, bipartisan voting, decentralized political parties, executive
-legislative divide and absence of Government-opposition divide. All these traits are considered as signs of weakness or unaccountability, but these very same traits are found in the US House of Representatives to a lesser or greater degree, the European parliament is more appropriately compared with the US House of Representatives.
Legislative initiative in the EU rests solely with the commission
, while in member states it is shared between parliament and executive; however less than 15% of legislative initiatives from MPs
become law when they do not have the backing of the executive. The European Parliament can only propose amendments, but unlike in national parliaments, the executive has no guaranteed majority to secure the passage of its legislation. In national parliaments, amendments are usually proposed by the opposition, who lack a majority for their approval and usually fail. But given the European Parliament's independence, and the need to obtain majority approval from it, proposals made by its many parties (none of which hold a majority alone) have an unusually high 80% success rate in the adoption of its amendments. Even in controversial proposals, its success rate is 30%, something not mirrored by national legislatures.
Liberal Democrat (ELDR) MEP
Chris Davies
, says he has far more influence as a member of the European Parliament than he did as an opposition MP in the House of Commons. "Here I started to have an impact on day one", "And there has not been a month since when words I tabled did not end up in legislation."
, which completed the process of ratification
and came into force on December 1st 2009, modified the following elements which have been mentioned in relation to the alleged democratic deficit:
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
lacks democracy, arguably due to a lack of legitimacy in its institutions and/or lack of influence on the part of its citizens. Opinions differ on how to remedy this, and it is also argued that the deficit is structural, i.e. cannot be resolved without changing the nature of the Union.
Use and meaning of the term
The phrase democratic deficit is cited as first being used by David MarquandDavid Marquand
David Ian Marquand FBA, FRHistS, FRSA is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament .Born in Cardiff, Marquand was educated at Emanuel School, Magdalen College, Oxford, St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and at the University of California, Berkeley...
in 1979, referring to the then European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
, the forerunner of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. '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 democratic deficit has been called a 'structural democratic deficit', in that it is inherent in the construction of the European Union as a supranational union
Supranational union
Supranationalism is a method of decision-making in multi-national political communities, wherein power is transferred or delegated to an authority by governments of member states. The concept of supranational union is sometimes used to describe the European Union, as a new type of political entity...
that is neither a pure intergovernmental organization, nor a true federal state. The German Constitutional Court, for instance, argues that decision-making processes in the EU remain largely those of an international organization, which would ordinarily be based on the principle of the equality of states. The principle of equality of states and the principle of equality of citizens cannot be reconciled in a Staatenverbund. In other words, in a supranational union or confederation (which is not a federal state) there is a problem of how to reconcile the principle of equality among nation states, which applies to international (intergovernmental) organizations, and the principle of equality among citizens, which applies within nation states.
European executives
A notable response to the criticism that European integration has raised the powers of Executives in comparison to Parliaments has come from Andrew MoravcsikAndrew Moravcsik
Andrew Moravcsik is a Professor of Politics and director of the European Union Program at Princeton University. He is known for his research on European integration, international organizations, human rights, and American and European foreign policy, for developing the theory of liberal...
, who claims that the European Union has made Executives more accountable to their citizens. He notes that the actions of government ministers are no longer scrutinised simply at home, but in a wider European context and that ministers at home are no longer held to account solely for their domestic record, but also for their actions in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
- as for instance is demonstrated by some of the criticism Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
received after concessions made over the UK rebate
UK rebate
The UK rebate is a rebate on the United Kingdom's contribution to the EU budget paid back to the UK government by the European Union.-History:...
in 2005.
A more general point not related to Moravcsik's argument is that already mentioned, namely that the European Parliament has received a notable increase in powers since the Maastricht Treaty, with mechanisms such as co-decision procedures (between the Council of Ministers and European Parliament) being introduced and adopted in many policy areas. The European Parliament has also acquired something of a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
scrutinising role where the conduct of Commissioners is concerned as evidenced by the resignation of the Santer Commission
Santer Commission
The Santer Commission was the European Commission in office between 23 January 1995 and 15 March 1999. The administration was led by Jacques Santer ....
in 1999 under EP pressure in addition to explicit powers to veto Commission lineups - a power used in 2004 against the Barroso Commission
Barroso Commission
The Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 2014. Its president is José Manuel Barroso, who presides over 26 other commissioners...
. Nevertheless the debate over whether the European Union has increased the power of executives vis a vis parliaments remains highly contentious and should be considered in the context of increasing globalisation and security fears following 11 September.
The claim of executive dominance at European level is exaggerated, since this merely reproduces the informal situation at national level. There is a local form of executive dominance
Elective dictatorship
An "elective dictatorship" is a phrase coined by the former Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom, Lord Hailsham, in a Richard Dimbleby Lecture at the BBC in 1976. It describes the state in which Parliament is dominated by the government of the day...
, as on average less than 15% of legislative initiatives from MPs become law when they don't have the backing of the executive, further more proposal from the executives become law, usually unamended.
According to R. Daniel Kelemen, EU laws are more detailed than those of member states; in a similar way to federal states, the legal system is used to achieve political compliance by the member states, because of the decentralized nature of the political system. Decisions are taken at the EU level, but are overwhelmingly implemented by member states. In contrast, within member states, the same agents are usually responsible for both decision making and implementation. Thus EU law encroaches on the executive powers of national governments.
Voting in the council is usually done by qualified majority voting, and sometimes unanimity is required. This means that for the vast majority of EU legislation the corresponding national government has usually voted in favor in the Council. To give an example, up to September 2006, out of the 86 pieces of legislation adopted in that year the government of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
had voted in favor of the legislation 84 times, abstained from voting twice and never voted against.
European parliament
The supposition that the European ParliamentEuropean Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
is powerless is claimed to be due to its recent past as a consultative assembly and the implicit comparison with national parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
s, but this comparison arguably leads to false conclusions. Important differences from national parliaments are the role of committees, bipartisan voting, decentralized political parties, executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
-legislative divide and absence of Government-opposition divide. All these traits are considered as signs of weakness or unaccountability, but these very same traits are found in the US House of Representatives to a lesser or greater degree, the European parliament is more appropriately compared with the US House of Representatives.
Legislative initiative in the EU rests solely with the commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, while in member states it is shared between parliament and executive; however less than 15% of legislative initiatives from MPs
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
become law when they do not have the backing of the executive. The European Parliament can only propose amendments, but unlike in national parliaments, the executive has no guaranteed majority to secure the passage of its legislation. In national parliaments, amendments are usually proposed by the opposition, who lack a majority for their approval and usually fail. But given the European Parliament's independence, and the need to obtain majority approval from it, proposals made by its many parties (none of which hold a majority alone) have an unusually high 80% success rate in the adoption of its amendments. Even in controversial proposals, its success rate is 30%, something not mirrored by national legislatures.
Liberal Democrat (ELDR) MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Chris Davies
Chris Davies
Christopher Graham Davies is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He is a former Member of Parliament, and since 1999 he has been a Member of the European Parliament.- Biography :...
, says he has far more influence as a member of the European Parliament than he did as an opposition MP in the House of Commons. "Here I started to have an impact on day one", "And there has not been a month since when words I tabled did not end up in legislation."
European elections
According to some observers, the EU does not have a formal democratic deficit, but an informal one due to a social deficit. People believe that there is a democratic deficit so they do not go to vote, and thus create the democratic deficit by thinking there is one, a self generating situation, for which formal reform can do little to help.Transparency and judicial review
Process promotes consensus
In response to arguments concerning policy bias some scholars have been keen to point out that the decision making process in the European Union relies heavily on consensus between agents. Qualified majority voting and unanimity are still used in Council votes and as such it has been argued that policies will inevitably reflect very centrist positions because any policy which leans too far to one side of the political spectrum will only require a small minority to oppose it for it to be rejected. Empirical evidence for either side of this debate has perhaps unsurprisingly been hard to come by due to the subjective nature of 'policy bias' arguments.Reform under the Lisbon Treaty
The Treaty of LisbonTreaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
, which completed the process of ratification
Ratification
Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent where the agent lacked authority to legally bind the principal. The term applies to private contract law, international treaties, and constitutionals in federations such as the United States and Canada.- Private law :In contract law, the...
and came into force on December 1st 2009, modified the following elements which have been mentioned in relation to the alleged democratic deficit:
- The codecision is established as the standard legislative procedure, hence increasing the Parliament's ability to shape and propose legislation.
- It requires the CouncilCouncil of the European UnionThe Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...
(meetings between national governments) to meet in public at all legislative meetings. - It ensures that national parliaments receive draft legislation earlier from the CommissionEuropean CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
. - It gives national parliaments a new power to send any proposal back to the Commission for reconsideration.
- It confirms the principle of subsidiarity as fundamental to the Union.
- It creates a new citizens' right of initiative, obliging the Commission to consider any proposal for legislation that has the support of 1 million EU citizens.
Further reading
- Follesdal, A and Hix, S. (2005) ‘Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU‘ European Governance Papers (EUROGOV) No. C-05-02
- Kelemen, Dr. R. Daniel; (2004) ‘The Rules of Federalism: Institutions and Regulatory Politics in the EU and Beyond‘ Harvard University Press
- Majone, G. (2005) 'Dilemmas of European Integration'.
- Marsh, M. (1998) ‘Testing the second-order election model after four European elections’ British Journal of Political Science Research. Vol 32.
- Moravcsik, A. (2002) ‘In defence of the democratic deficit: reassessing legitimacy in the European Union’ Journal of Common Market Studies. Vol 40, Issue 4.
- Reif, K and Schmitt, S. (1980) ‘Nine second-order national elections: a conceptual framework for the analysis of European election results’ European Journal of Political Research. Vol 8, Issue 1.