Transcript Towards a more democratic and legitimate EU

Towards a more democratic
EU?
Prof. dr Miodrag Jovanovic
EU as a sui generis polity
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EU is not, and probably will not become a state
Yet, “the EU is a political system in its own right, or at
least a ‘partial polity’.” (Beetham and Lord)
It is “a polity without a state” (Brunkhorst)
It is “a political system as it possesses all the elements
needed to be such a system: institutional stability and
complexity; powers of government through which citizens
and social groups seek to achieve their political desires; a
significant impact on the distribution of economic
resources and the allocation of social and political values;
and a continuous interaction between political outputs,
new demands on the system, and so on.” (Gerven)
Enhancing democracy and
legitimacy of the EU
Art. 1 of the Lisbon Treaty: “This Treaty marks a
new stage in the process of creating an ever closer
union among the peoples of Europe, in which
decisions are taken as openly as possible and as
closely as possible to the citizen.”
 What are the formal (institutional) and informal
(societal) channels for the further enhancement of
a more democratic and legitimate EU?
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Democratization through
Europeanization of political parties?
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Art. 10(4): “Political parties at European level contribute to forming
European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of
the Union.”
A European political party (Europarty), is a political party organization
operating transnationally in Europe and in the institutions of the
European Union.
They are regulated and funded by the European Union and are
primarily made up of national parties, but as of recently, they
introduced individual membership. They have the exclusive right to
campaign during the European elections.
European political parties are different from the Groups in the
European Parliament; however, they are often affiliated with these
Groups (which may be alliances of more than one European political
party, or possibly alliances between parties and nominally
independents).
Chronology of Europarties
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1992. Maastricht Treaty introduces the concept of a “political party at
the European level”
1997. Amsterdam Treaty provided a mechanism whereby they could
be paid for out of the European budget
2001. Nice Treaty stipulated that Europarty funding had to be
regulated by the Council and the European Parliament, acting together
Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of
the Council defined a ‘political party at European level’ and specified
that funding should not go to national parties, either directly or
indirectly
Regulation (EC) No 1524/2007 of the European Parliament and of
the Council gives Europarties the exclusive responsibility to campaign
for the European elections and to use their funds for this purpose
Criteria for the establishment of
a Europarty
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legal personality in the Member State in which its seat is located;
observe the founding principles of the European Union (liberty, democracy, respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law);
it must have participated, or intend to participate, in elections to the European Parliament;
it must have in at least one quarter of the Member States, one or both of the following: a) either it must
have received at least 3% of the votes cast in each of those Member States at the most recent European
Parliament elections or b) it must already be represented by Members, whether Members of the
European Parliament for those states, or Members of the national Parliaments of those states, or
Members of the regional Parliaments of those states, or Members of the regional Assemblies of those
states;
publish its revenue and expenditure and a statement of its assets and liabilities annually;
provide a list of its donors and their donations exceeding €500;
it must not accept: anonymous donations, donations exceeding €12,000 per year and per donor,
donations from the budgets of political groups of the European Parliament, more than 40% of a
national political party's annual budget, donations from any company over which the public authorities
may exercise a dominant influence, either by virtue of their ownership of it, or by their financial
participation therein;
it must get at least 25% of its budget from sources other than its European Union funding;
it must submit its application by the 15 November before the financial year that it wants funding for.
Europarties in 2012
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European People's Party (Christian democrats and conservatives 2004)
Party of European Socialists (social democrats and democratic socialists 2004)
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (liberals and centrists 2004)
European Green Party (greens 2004)
Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (anti-federalist centre-right
2010)
Party of the European Left (socialists and communists 2004)
European Democratic Party (centrists, European integrationists 2004)
European Free Alliance (pro-devolution, independentist representing national
minorities 2004)
EUDemocrats (Eurosceptics, generally left-of-centre 2006)
European Christian Political Movement (socially-conservative Christian democrats
2010)
European Alliance for Freedom (eurosceptics, 2011)
Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (national conservatives and
eurosceptics, 2012)
Alliance of European National Movements (far-right nationalists and eurosceptics,
2012)
Current deficits
At EU parliamentary elections, voters still
vote for national parties, as members of
Europarties;
 National issues still dominate EU
parliamentary elections;
 Lack of a uniform electoral procedure for
the EU parliament
 Low turnout opens the room for the
constant rise of right-wing parties
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Turnout - EU and national
parliament
Towards European public sphere?
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Can there at all be a common Europe without a pan-European
public sphere, where potentially common values and ideas can
be formed and transnational political institutions can find their
legitimacy?
A public sphere is “an intermediate sphere of public actions,
affiliations, and relations beyond the state and the market, where
citizens as relatively free and equal members of society and its
polity use many, independent, and party rival associations and
media to learn, discuss, organize collective action, and bargain,
among other things, and where such practices of citizenship tend
to protect and promote constitutional democracy under
preconditions of maturity”
The Role of Media
Four ideal-types of transnational media
can be distinguished: (1) national media
with a transnational mission , (2) international
media, (3) pan-regional media and (4) global
media.
 There are transnational media at the EU
level, but with a highly limited influence.
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Communicating Europe in Partnership
(2009/C 13/02)
“The European Parliament, Council and the European Commission attach the
utmost importance to improving communication on EU issues in order to
enable European citizens to exercise their right to participate in the democratic
life of the Union, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as
closely as possible to the citizens, observing the principles of pluralism,
participation, openness and transparency.” (par. 1)
“The three Institutions believe that information and communication activities on
European issues should give everyone access to fair and diverse information
about the European Union and enable citizens to exercise their right to express
their views and to participate actively in the public debate on European Union
issues.” (par. 4)
“The three Institutions promote the respect of multilingualism and cultural
diversity when implementing information and communication actions.” (par. 5)
European Parliament resolution of 7
September 2010 on journalism and new
media – creating a public sphere in Europe
EU Parliament
4. Notes that lack of online news and information on the EU and its institutions
is not the problem, which in fact lies in the availability of a wide range of
information without any real order of priority, leading to a situation in which
too much information kills information; notes that all the institutions have
launched their own news platforms, which fail, however, to interest a broad
section of the public because often they are not sufficiently clear, attractive or
understandable, in many cases owing to the use of overly technical language
that is very off-putting for people who are unfamiliar with European issues;
takes the view that there should be an introductory portal to the platforms
which clarifies the workings of all the EU institutions;
6. Believes that, in order to be effective, communication must make it clear that
political decisions taken at EU level are of direct relevance to the daily lives of
EU citizens, who see the EU as still being too distant and having too little
influence in terms of solving their real problems;
Towards an active citizen of the EU?
Article 11 of the Lisbon Treaty
1. The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and
representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly
exchange their views in all areas of Union action.
2. The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue
with representative associations and civil society.
3. The European Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties
concerned in order to ensure that the Union's actions are coherent and
transparent.
4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant
number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European
Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any
appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of
the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.
The scope of the initiative
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A practical problem: the admissibility question - many
potential ECI organizers’ proposals directly or indirectly
imply amendments to the existing EU treaties (“primary
law”), but the Commission has stated that it will not
register ECIs which propose amendments to EU treaties
The regulation on this issue is unclear and open to
challenge by the European Court of Justice.
Such a reading would not only contradict the very
usefulness of the citizens’ initiative as an instrument to
“reinforce citizens’ and organized civil society’s
involvement in the shaping of EU policies”, as the
Commission itself expressed it in its Green book, but also
contradict Article 1 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Regulation (EU) 211 (2011)
The regulation for the European Citizens‘
Initiative (ECI) will be applicable as of the 1st of
April 2012
 Citizens’ initiative committees can register an ECI
with the European Commission and start
collecting signatures
 A number of open technical details (duty of
signatories to provide ID card numbers, technical
aspects of the online registering system)
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Top-bottom v. grassroots approach
The EU Commission ‘Europe for Citizens’ program,
whose “main priorities include encouraging citizens
to become actively involved in the process of
European integration, empowering them to develop
a sense of European identity, and enhancing mutual
understanding between Europeans.”
 Grassroots movements, civic associations and nongovernmental organizations at the EU level are a
rather late phenomenon, and it is questionable how
really influential they are.
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First ECIs
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The European Commission chose the symbolic date of May 9, 2012 (Europe Day) to
officially launch the very first ECI. This turned out to be Fraternité 2020, which was
announced by Vice-President of the Commission Maroš Šefčovič via his Twitter
account already one day earlier. Fraternité 2020 was officially registered on May 9
and boasts registration number ECI(2012)000001.
More initiatives are now being registered by the Commission and include:
End Ecocide in Europe A Citizens’ Initiative to give the Earth Rights;
European Initiative for Media Pluralism;
High Quality European Education for All;
Single Communication Tariff Act, on roaming fees, supported by Martin
Wittenberg and Vincent Chauvet;[
Right to water, on free access to clean water;
Uno di noi, against the use of human embryos in research; and
Let me vote, on expanding voting rights for foreigners.
Peculiarities of European civil
society
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Due to the primary economic nature of the European
integration, agrarian and industrial associations were for a
long time the only ones to be in contact with EU
institutions;
European umbrella organizations are often without direct
members or local branches;
Being less directly connected to citizens, and being heavily
supported and funded by European Commission, European
civil society is at risk of losing its autonomy;
Strong decentralized and multi-polar character.
(H. Kaelble, 2004)
Europeanization as a prerequisite of
the EU democratization
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The first prerequisite of a genuinely democratic political
system is that those that are about to provide “informed
consent” in a certain decision-making process are sufficiently
concerned about problems that have to be settled.
A democratic EU presupposes a Europe-interested public in
possession of some sort of common collective identity –
“Without any notion at all of a ‘we’ being ‘together’ in this
process of collective decision-making there would be no
reason to consider a ‘higher’ public interest than the sum of
private interests.” (Naurin)
Europeanization through less
formal channels?
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“Europeanization is manifest in new spaces,
ranging from EU-specific spaces to new
mobilities as a result of more travel for work,
sport, tourism, etc., to Europeanized public
spheres and expanding borders. Education, in
particular higher education, is a significant
expression of Europe as a social reality, as is
Europe as a knowledge society.” (Delanty)