Paper: Who is most qualified to be the captain of the ship? On the inter-institutional debate in the European Union
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Course
European Integration
Institution
Universiteit Antwerpen (UA)
Paper: Who is most qualified to be the captain of the ship? On the inter-institutional debate in the European Union.
Deze paper behandelt de pro- en contra-argumenten over de stelling: “The European Parliament should have the power to control the Council of Ministers and the European Council.”...
Who is most qualified to be the
captain of the ship? On the inter-
institutional debate in the European
Union
European Integration
De la Ruelle
Jannes
S0212297
Bridging Programme International Relations and Diplomacy
, Introduction
The European Parliament (EP) has evolved into a fully-fledged body of democratic representation in
the European Union (EU). It brings together under one roof 705 representatives from 27 different
member states, who usually organize themselves into political groups on the basis of political
ideology. The EP has a number of statutory powers - legislative, budgetary and supervisory - and
participates in collective decision-making with other institutional actors. One of these actors is the
European Council. This is where the Heads of State and Government of the 27 member states meet to
define the EU's general political directions and priorities. It also deals with complex or delicate issues
that a lower level of government cannot solve. However, the European Council is absent from the EU's
ordinary legislative procedure, as the member states are represented there by the Council of Ministers
(Council). In this institution, the ministers of the 27 member states discuss a range of issues and each
member state delegates one minister, depending on the policy area under discussion. Apart from
coordinating EU policies, the Council - together with the EP - is the EU's foremost decision-making
body.
The EP has managed to slightly extend its control over the executive - which consists of the European
Commission, the European Council and the Council. However, this supervisory power is limited to the
supranational arm: the EP has the right to approve and dismiss the European Commission as a whole.
Moreover, candidate Commissioners, before being appointed, have to appear at a public hearing in the
EP to examine the relevant expertise on their possible portfolios. The European Council and the
Council, however, remain outside the EP's control. This paper addresses both pro and contra
arguments on the following statement: “The European Parliament should have the power to control
the Council of Ministers and the European Council.”
More democracy! Is it not?
Pro:
As the only directly elected institution of the European Union (EU), the EP owes much of its power to
the hope of solving the organization’s ‘democratic deficit’ problem. The concept of ‘democratic
deficit’ implies that decisions taken at EU level are insufficiently representative of, or accountable to,
European countries and their citizens. According to EUR-Lex, the issue of the EU's democratic deficit
is due to the lack of a European government: “EU voters do not feel that they have an effective way to
reject a 'government' they do not like, and to change, in some ways, the course of politics and policy.”
2
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