Government and politics of Europe

Government and Politics of Europe

Democracy deficit in the European Union

In spite of the fact that more than two decades have passed from the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the European Union is still unable to maintain democracy at a constant level in all of its member countries. Although people might be inclined to express lack of interest in approaching the matter from a discriminatory point-of-view, this is what actually needs to be done in order to understand more regarding the things that prevent the Union from developing into a complete democracy. As more and more countries integrate the Union bodies that are already in the Union find it difficult to assist these respective actors in overcoming problems that prevent them from being democratic.

While economic integration is, indeed, difficult to perform, this process is not as difficult as the process of political integrations. Many politicians have different perspectives concerning the concept of democracy and some are likely to be against it. One might tend to believe that politics can be dealt with separately from economics, but the reality is that developing countries that have recently entered the European Union have a strong relationship between economy and politics, thus making it particularly difficult for someone to separate these two fields.

In spite of the fact that many factors show otherwise, numerous influential individuals in the European Committee claim that the Union does not suffer from a democratic deficit and that conditions are perfectly normal when considering contemporary circumstances in the community.

The concept of democratic deficit is, in itself, particularly confusing because individuals can interpret it in regard to their perspective concerning democracy and can believe that a group is more or less democratic solely focusing on their understanding of democracy. The EU is designed with the purpose of having executive bodies control most of policy-making decisions at a community level. While this might not seem like a problem, the fact that executive actors have the ability to act without asking for permission from national parliament is. "Even with the establishment of European Affairs Committees in all national parliaments, ministers when speaking and voting in the Council, national bureaucrats when making policies in Coreper or Council working groups, and officials in the Commission when drafting or implementing legislation, are much more isolated from national parliamentary scrutiny and control than are national cabinet ministers or bureaucrats in the domestic policy-making process" (Follesdal & Hix, 3).

This makes it possible for governments to express little to no interest in decisions made by their parliaments when they need to make a decision in Brussels. Thus, for a country to successfully be integrated in the European Union, it needs to transfer power from national parliaments to executives in the government (Follesdal & Hix, 3).

With governments being in charge of their parliaments it is difficult to determine whether or not democracy can effectively influence the lives of politicians and simple citizens living in the Union. In order for conditions to experience reform when regarding this issue, the Commission should be denied the right to intervene in the legislative process and the European Parliament and the Council should be provided with more authority in the matter. European citizens are confused as a result of the fact that power is shifted between influential actors in the community and find it difficult to understand what body they need to support and why. In order to improve conditions, the EU needs to focus on having its citizens understand more concerning its purposes and the fact that it functions as a body.

One of the principal attempts that have been performed in the recent years with the intention of creating a safer environment in the EU is the law that promoted reduction in the number of communes in each country. The significant number of communes in the EU made it difficult for leaders to address citizens objectively, considering that many identified with their commune and virtually lost many of their traditional values through having their communes expanded. Individuals felt that the relationship that they have with communes was particularly important for them and the fact that they identified with them made them feel that they were living in a democratic environment where there was nothing wrong with trying to be autonomous. In spite of the fact that the European Parliament believed that reducing the number of communes would improve democracy in the Union, reality is very different and this attempt failed to make the EU a more democratic place (Loughlin 194).

The EU experienced a series of reforms during the 1990s with the purpose of stabilizing conditions in countries that experienced hardships and in order to reinforce the concept of democracy in these countries. One of the most important problems that the EU has in trying to promote democracy is the fact that its citizens are generally inclined to identify with their country more than they identify with the EU. "Despite the collapse in confidence in central government and in the national political system, there has been a growing identification on the part of young people with Italy as a country" (Loughlin 220). There are more people in Italy who are proud that they are Italians than individuals who are proud of being European citizens. This should not necessarily represent a threat for the concept of democracy in the Union, but it should influence the authorities in devising programs meant to educate individuals concerning their connection with the EU and the fact that democracy should not actually be opposed to nationalism. It is perfectly normal for one to love his or her country and to be democratic at the same time. In addition to putting across attitudes that deal with citizens as a whole, the EU should also focus on the individual needs of its people, as this is more likely to guarantee a better communication between actors within the EU and is probable to influence citizens in understanding the importance of democracy.

Although Europe is no longer focused on the concept of nation-state importance, its character as a supranational organization is difficult to understand from an ideological point-of-view. Mostly all communities in the EU are focused on creating strong connections between citizens and between nations with the purpose of influencing everyone in adopting democratic approaches in dealing with fellow members of the community. All members of the EU are provided with the authority to preserve and promote their own interests. Even with this, the fact that they are sometimes confused concerning what attitude they should employ in order for conditions to be stable for their citizens and for the EU as a whole makes it difficult for them to maintain a democratic position. It is, to a certain degree, probable that the EU is very similar to the U.S. And that the strategies that it used in the recent decades have made the community seem more like a republic than a democracy. European leaders have apparently intended the EU to be similar to a multipart republic that provided each state with power to control its citizens and to maintain a series of democratic principles (Fabbrini 4).