Democracy and civil society in the European Union

1. Democracy and civil society in the European Union Krisztina Arató Ph.D ELTE, Faculty of Law, Institute of Political Science International Scientific Conference „European Union and Global Democracy” Zagreb, 29 May 2008

2. Why Democracy? • The European Union as a „sui generis” political system • More democratic than an international organisaton • Less democratic than a Member State

3. Does the EU need to be democratic? NO-arguments • The EU is mostly a regulatory state and only slightly fulfils redistributive functions, so European-level decision-making should be distinct form state-level democratic expectations (G. Majone, A. Moravcsik)

4. Does the EU need to be democratic? YES-arguments • The EU is expected to be democratic since • Community law accounts for 50% of legislation in force in MSs (80% in Eurozone) • Economic integration has reached a point where economic union without political union is uneffective • (….) (P. Schmitter, F. Scharpf, etc.) • DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT

5. Democratic features of the European Union I. • European Parliament is directly elected since 1979 • On most fields the Council co-decides with the EP • EP plays a growing role in appointing the Commission • European level parties are operating in the EP

6. Democratic features of the European Union II. • Council members are not under EP control, but under parliamentary contol in their member states • The process of legal initiation and policy implementation is more transparent in the Commission than in MS ministries • There is an organised and transparent co-operation between the Commission and civil society

7. Democratic deficiencies in the European Union I. • Decisions are mostly made on the executive level (Council, Commission) – ministers can abandon the opinion of their parliaments or they can be in minority • EP is still weak despite the growth of influence • European elections are about European issues but internal politics

8. Democratic deficiencies in the European Union II. • The European Union is still too far from citizens and its operation is difficult to understand • Therefore, the institutions of the EU make decisions that are not necessarily agreed upon by the people of the EU

9. Why civil society? • Civil society contribution can decrease the following deficiencies in the EU: • Democratic deficit • Legitimacy deficit • Management deficit • Communication deficit

10. How the EU co-operates with civil society? • Involvement in decision-making • Financing • Subcontracting • Involvement of partnership in community policites (environment, cohesion policies)

12. Involvement in decision-making • Commission • Vast system a committees, consultation procedures, communications, CONNECCS (ETI) • European Parliament • Ombudsman, rapporteurs, intergroups • Council • IGCs, presidency, COREPER

13. Conclusions • European institutions themselves are aware of a hiatus in democracy in the EU • Especially the Commission tries to make the EU more transparent and get closer to citizens • It is not in their power to transform the institutional structure into a democratic setup – are they scratching the surface?

14. Subverting democracy www.indymedia.ie