“Is there a democratic deficit in the EU?”

“Is there a democratic deficit in the EU?”

       A democratic deficit occurs when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices or operation where representative and linked parliamentary integrity becomes widely discussed. In the EU’s case it is the governance that lacks democratic legitimacy.  The democratic legitimacy comes from the European Commission and the European Parliament. The term” democratic deficit” was first used in 1977 by the Young European Federalists. It was used again in 1979 by David Marquand to criticize the European Parliament at the time that was not directly elected by the citizens of the Community. The European Union is suffering from a democratic deficit even if it is an organization with elections, rules and obligations, it suffers from a democratic deficit because the people of the EU are not implicated enough in the major decisions. We will show how each of the major institutions (European Parliament and European Commission) don’t implicate the citizens enough and are not as democratic as they should be.

       The European Parliament is charged with democratic representation. It is the only directly elected body in the EU. The turnouts for the elections of the European Parliament are decreasing at each new election. It has decreased from 62% in 1979 to approximately 43% in 2009. This shows the lack of engagement from each country in European affairs. This is a clear indicator of the democratic deficit in the EU. The EP is supposed to represent and connect the citizens to the EU but the citizens not showing up for elections shows that the EP is not efficient and can be improved. The citizens know nothing about the structure and the powers of the EP, that is the reason why they do not go at elections. This was shown by Eurobarometer poll that stated that 64% do not know the role of the EP and 59% don’t feel informed enough to vote. If the EP which is supposed to be the most democratic body is not even trusted by the European citizens than we can be sure that there is a democratic deficit in the EU.

       The European Parliament is not really efficient at its job but this may be because it does not have enough power to correctly preform.

       Standard democratic legislatures usually have the power to introduce, amend and adopt new laws. The European Parliament shares all these things with other EU institutions. Especially with the European Commission which is the executive branch of the EU. The Commission has almost complete power over the creation of new laws. The European Parliament also has to agree with the Council of Ministers before it can accept or reject a proposal. So the EP has to share his powers with the Council of Ministers and the European Commission, which is not like in a standard democratic legislature. As we can see the institution that is supposed to make the EU democratic doesn’t have enough power to operate like it should, this is a reason of the democratic deficit.

       The European Parliament isn’t the only institution that is not as democratic as it should be. The European Commission is considered as one of the least democratic EU institution.

       The European Commission is the executive branch of the EU. It is supposed to represent EU’s interest. It is composed of 28 commissioners. The president of the Commission is part of the 28 members. He is elected by the European Parliament and not by the people of Europe    . The other 27 members are not elected but appointed by their country’s government. The 28 commissioners are supposed to represent Europe’s interest but the fact that they are appointed by their governments may be seen as each country has their commissioner. In fact, almost every country appoints former government officials from their governments. This system of appointing commissioners and not electing them is seen as undemocratic.

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