The EU: Maybe if we make things more confusing…
James Kanter, writing in the NYTimes, mentions the reputation problems of the EU when writing about some reform ideas of EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. Prominent among critiques of the EU is its
"democratic deficit." It's a key to understanding the operation of the EU.
E.U. Leader Suggests Simplifying How the Bloc Is Run
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, laid out plans on Wednesday to simplify the byzantine governance of the European Union…
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| Juncker addresses the EU Parliament |
The complexity of the European Union is legendary. It has a plethora of institutions and no single leader, leaving many wondering who is in charge…
Mr. Juncker, of Luxembourg, leads the commission, a mass of powerful bureaucrats. Donald Tusk of Poland leads the European Council, which consists of the leaders of the 28 member nations and sets the union’s overall political direction. Antonio Tajani of Italy is president of the European Parliament.
Then there is the Council of the European Union — not to be confused with the European Council — which is made up of ministers and has a six-month rotating presidency.
The structure of the bloc… contributes to what scholars call a “democratic deficit,” the feeling that structures and officials in Brussels are unaccountable to ordinary people…
“The European landscape would be clearer and more understandable if the European ship was steered by one and the same captain at the helm,” [Juncker] said…
Mr. Juncker’s wide-ranging speech touched on these themes:
- The favorable circumstances and relatively healthy economic growth across much of the bloc…
- A new European minister for economy and finance…
- Proposals in finance, intelligence-gathering and cybersecurity…
- A warning that Britain’s exit from the bloc was “very sad and tragic”…
- A far tougher line with Turkey…
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Labels: democratic deficit, EU, regime
EU politics
Many of the democratic aspects of the EU are based on proportional representation, in order to give some power to less than majority or near-majority groups.
However, there's always a problem when allocating the fractional parts of the voting results. Who gets the last seat in the legislature when no party has enough votes to win it outright?
Thomas Jefferson designed a system for the U.S. Congress back in the 18th century. Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt designed a similar system in the 19th century. The EU claims to use the D'Hondt system. But cooperation among the largest parties can negate the results of the D'Hondt system.
Big three EP parties gang up to block eurosceptic committee chair
As expected the eurosceptic group Europe of Freedom & Direct Democracy (EFDD) failed on Monday to win the chairmanship of the petitions committee of the European Parliament (EP).
EFDD, which is led by the UK's Nigel Farage… should have been awarded the chairmanship under the D'Hondt system, which is designed to award posts in proportion to the number of MEPs in each political grouping.
But an agreement between the three largest groups in the EP - - the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and the Liberal ALDE - resulted in a majority of the votes going instead to Cecilia Wikstrom, a Swedish ALDE MEP…
EFDD co-president UK MEP Nigel Farage said: "The Federalist fanatics have shown their true anti-democratic colours. They hate scrutiny and opposition and therefore hate the EFDD Group with a passion - which I suppose, should make us proud.
"The Europhile groups have again demonstrated their fear of democracy, their hatred of minority views, and their clear rejection of transparency. EU Federalists are a disgrace but the public should realise their views and their dirty dealings are emblematic of the European Parliament."…
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Labels: democratic deficit, EU, parties, politics
