The new EU
Why is it so difficult for European citizens to understand the EU? Is it any more difficult for our students to understand?The future's Lisbon
The workings of the EU remain mysterious... The European Commission, a souped-up civil service, has the sole right to propose legislation. Laws are then adopted by the Council of Ministers, representing national governments. In most cases they also need to be approved by the European Parliament—hence the Brussels jargon of “co-decision”. Legal disputes are settled by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
A central justification for the Lisbon treaty is that Europe has been all but paralysed by enlargement to 27 countries, because unanimity too often remains the rule in the council...
Yet the Euro-establishment’s delight in lots more majority voting is just as nonsensical and self-serving as most of the Yes and No arguments. If enlargement had really gummed up the works of the EU, you would expect to see a large number of vital dossiers blocked by unanimity. Such a logjam does not exist...
Supporters of deeper political and economic integration like majority voting because it makes it harder for less enthusiastic countries to dissent, or to slow legislation down...
This is linked to the second big thing that supporters praise about Lisbon: a substantial increase in the number of policy areas where the European Parliament has an equal (or nearly equal) say to the council through co-decision...
In the short run, Lisbon will throw up almost as many problems as it is supposed to solve. It may take 20 years to digest the changes it brings to EU foreign policy, says one senior official. Even then, it is likely to help most in places where Europe already has clout, either because it is a big donor (as in Africa), or because the countries in question, such as the Balkans, long to join the EU. The big EU states will go on running their own foreign policies...
Extra power for the European Parliament will combine with majority voting to make it harder for dissenting countries to restrain others. Federalists are convinced this will speed up European integration. Sceptics look at today’s Europe, and the growing trends towards national selfishness even in once-model pupils like Germany, and wonder whether Lisbon is out of step with today’s political realities before it is even enacted...
Europe is an experiment, and frequently frustrating, says one senior official. In its defence it is, he argues, “the best functioning organisation in the world that attempts to deal with the fact that politics is local, and economics global.” Lisbon is a highly flawed attempt to help Europe bridge that gap. It had better work, because there is no appetite for a new treaty, nor will there be for many years to come.
Find out What You Need to Know
Labels: democratization, EU, International Organizations, rule-of-law
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home