European Democratic Deficit - 2826 Words

The democratic deficit is a theory developed by scholars in order to illustrate that the European Union and its institutional bodies suffer from a lack of democracy (Wincott, 1998, p. 414). However, there are many definitions of the democratic deficit (Chryssochoou, 2000; Justice, 1996; Warleigh, 2003; Weiler, Haltern Mayer, 1995) depending on the views and approaches of each scholar. Joseph Weilers ‘standard version of the democratic deficit is one of the most common definitions and it is a set of widely-used arguments by academics, scholars and the media (Weiler et al., 1995, cited by Follesdal Hix, 2005, p. 4). It consists of five claims that explain why the EU can be called undemocratic and they are the following: a) there is an†¦show more content†¦9). With regards to the claim that the European Parliament is too weak (the second of Weilers standard version claims), Moravcsik (2002; 2003) emphasises the fact that during the last twenty years, the European Parliament is the institution which have experienced the most reforms, regarding its increase of powers, compare to the Council and the Commission. The latter argument is in fact accurate because ever since the Single European Act (1986), the European Parliament gains more and more power by reforms in every signed Treaty (Moravcsik, 2003, p. 7). Despite that, however, the Parliament is still considered to be weak compared to the other institutions, as it will be analysed later in the essay. Overall, according to Moravcsik, there is no democratic deficit because there is no gap between the national governments and the EU, since his liberal-intergovernmental theory suggests that the EU solely rests on pillars of national economic interest, intergovernmental bargaining and the desire for credible commitments (Wincott, 1998, p. 424). He stresses that the EU should not be compared to a state because it is not one and his key point is that providing the Member States remain the main actors in the EU and the Community stays just an international organisation, there will never be a problem of legitimacy and democratic accountability since the Member states, whose governments are directly elected from the citizens, will be the decision-makers. It could be said thatShow MoreRelatedThe Democratic Deficit And The European Union2195 Words   |  9 PagesThe democratic deficit is a concept invoked in the argument that the European Union (EU) and its variety of bodies suffer from a l ack of democracy and have become seen as isolated from the â€Å"ordinary citizen† as their methods of operation are extremely complex. Over the last two decades we have witnessed an almost continuously ongoing debate regarding the correct constitutional structure for Europe.[ Moravscik, A., (2002), â€Å"In the Defence of the Democratic Deficit: Reassessing Legitimacy in the EuropeanRead MoreThe European Unions Democratic Deficit1800 Words   |  8 PagesThe European Union has greatly evolved over the decades since it has begun into a well-evolved quasi-state of over 28 countries, and over five hundred million citizens. 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