Principle Foundation of the European Union

When identifying the presence of a democratic deficit in the European Union, it is important to consider a range of factors, including international treaties and the effect they had on its structured governmental framework. One of the first official agreements established by the European Union (formerly

A Democratic Deficit in the EU The question over the legitimacy of the EU has been a nearly continuous debate and many commentators appear to agree that the EU suffers from a severe ‘democratic deficit’. There are many reasons why this perception is so widespread. As a multinational body it lacks the grounding in common history and culture upon which most individual polities can draw.

The ‘standard version’ of the democratic deficit formulated by Weiler, consisting of the increased role of the executive Commission in matters of legislation, the weakness of the European Parliament (hereafter the EP), the lack of ‘European’ elections, EU distance to public scrutiny and voters, and finally ‘policy drifting’ by the executive non-compliant to voter interests, has and continues to be a major target of criticism within the field of European Union (the EU) law. The matter is of utmost importance

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 Weiler's ‘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

The European Union (EU) is fundamentally democratic and is evident through its institutions, however, the current democratic electoral structure is of great concern. The EU is a new type of political system, often referred to as a sui generis, implying its uniqueness as there exists and a non comparable political body. The EU can neither regarded as a ‘state’ nor as an ‘international institution’ as it combines supranational as well as intergovernmental characteristics (Hix, 1999, p7). In this regard it has developed its own understandings of what democracy is. It is evident that the development of and spread of democracy is a central concept and foundation to all politics within the EU, and remains focuses on makings its governing

The European Union (E.U.) is a political and economic union that contains 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The European Union was formed with the aim of ending recurring and bloody wars between neighbors, which culminated into the Second World War. In 1950, the European Coal and steel community began to unite European countries economically and politically to secure lasting peace. It started out with six countries in what was called the European Economic Community (EEC). Then in the 1970’s, three countries, including Great Britain, joined the EEC. Great Britain joined the EU to strengthen their economy which wasn’t recovering as quickly as other countries in the EEC after World War II. In 1992 the EEC changed their

The formation of the European Union was a turning point in the stability of relationships between European countries, allowing the exploration of true diplomacy among the nations, and it brought along the possibility of peace through the exchange of people and support. The European Union was jump started and driven by its desire to be able to stay in economic competition with both the Soviet Union and the United States of America.

One of the sources examined in this paper was that of Giandomenico Majone’s article “Europe’s ‘Democratic Deficit’: The Question of Standards”. This article’s purpose was to factor in what definition was to be used for the democratic deficit. In this article Majone separates the two parties influenced by the democratic deficit: The European Community (EC) and the European Union (EU). The democratic deficit then that is used for this paper is taken strictly from the definition used by Majone, “Technocratic decision-making, lack of transparency, insufficient public participation, excessive use of administrative discretion, inadequate mechanisms of control and accountability – that arise whenever important policymaking powers are delegated to

The idea of creating a unified Europe were in the minds of many European writers, Intellectuals, philosophers of the last centuries, such as, Immanuel Kant, Aristide Briand and Victor Hugo (The French author) who wrote in 1849: A day will arrive, where all nations of this continent will come together closely and create a higher community and big European brotherhood and there will be no other battlefields than the markets, which open for trade. However, On the 9 May 1950 after the Second World War, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, upon advice of his advisor Jean Monnet, proposed integrating the coal and steel industries of Western Europe to make another world war impossible also to help Europe countries to promote independence and economy. The idea accepted by Germany along with four other countries Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Therefore, they signed the Treaty of Paris (1951) and established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In 1952, the Pleven plan followed by the six members and created European Defence Community (EDC) in fear of domination of Europe by the Soviet Union and its strict control over the countries of eastern Europe. Thus, it became increasingly important for the Countries of Western Europe to integrate politically and economically among themselves. In particular, European Union (EU) is a political and economic partnership that represents a unique form of cooperation among 28 member states which has been built through

The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 European member states that together cover much of the continent. The EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the Member States (Nugent, 2010). EU member states have long believed that the Union magnifies their political and economic objectives. Nevertheless, tensions have always existed within the EU between those members that seek a closer union through more integration and those that prefer to keep the Union on a more intergovernmental footing, in order to better guard their national sovereignty. The interaction between international cooperation and domestic politics is pressingly relevant to the effect of European integration on domestic politics and democratic accountability in EU Member States. Many scholars consider democratic politics in Europe to be closely linked to increasing integration. This paper will argue that the process of European integration at the EU level has strengthened and also weakened the Member States in various different aspects.

The European Union (EU) was established back in (REFERENCE) with the aim of (REFERENCE peace and economic prosperity). Since then, much has happened, and the EU is now considered more than just an economic collaboration. This brings along both new challenges and new opportunities when considering the future EU. Recent developments has shown an increasingly worry about the economic situation in the EU (REFERENCE GREECE AND SPAIN), which challenges the legitimacy of the EU as solely an economic union – if the internal economy is falling apart, how can we then justify the upholding of the union? This has become a major concern to several EU countries. One example is the United Kingdom,

The European Union (EU) is a politico-economic partnership between 28 European countries, created in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its main purpose was to stimulate economic cooperation because it is thought that countries that trade with each other become economically interdependent, therefore conflicts are more likely to be avoided. As a result, the European Economic Community was established in 1958, originally to increase economic collaboration between six countries – France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. A large single market has been created and continues to develop towards its full potential ever since.

Willy Brandt once remarked:” Western Europe has only 20 or 30 more years of democracy left in it; after that it will slide under the surrounding sea of dictatorship” (Crozier, Huntington, Watanuki, 1973, 2). It would seem that democratic governments have become increasingly unable of facing “the challenges of the modern world”. Specifically, democratic European governments have become increasingly incapable to adequately represent the interests of the governed, while economic growth has also produced forces within nations that could potentially lead to the potential “regression”(Crozier, 1973, 49-50) of European states from democracy into tyranny (Crozier, 1973, 49-50).

The European Union (EU) is one of the largest collective economies in the world, containing twenty-eight member countries encompassing much of the European continent. With its size, age, and economic diversity, there is no doubt that this single market region should be one of the most prosperous economic areas in the world. By design, all individual EU member countries, and the businesses within them, should be able to easily access the vast markets that exist throughout the EU. The fundamental idea of the EU is to have a single market region where there are few (if any) barriers to the movement of goods and services throughout respective member countries. With the reduction of barriers to doing business, having a single market should help substantially grow business throughout the European economy by increasing competition and trade, improving efficiency, and helping cut prices of both business inputs and finished products (source 1). However, since the world recession that began in 2008, the EU has struggled to gain back its economic foothold and businesses are struggling to succeed. According to an August 2015 article from The Economist, even seven years after the recession first began, the EU is still growing slowly and having a hard time returning to its pre-recession economic success (Source 2). While some of the slow EU growth can be attributed to the major collapse of some important EU member economies such as Greece, Spain, and Ireland, some of the lack of

What most people don’t realise is just how deeply being a member of the European Union affects us in our everyday lives. It doesn’t just affect our law and big political issues but also our culture, the NHS and job prospects. In this essay I will only be focusing on a tiny amount of the issues raised out of the enormous range including how being a member of the European Union affects our laws, jobs and immigration. I will try to weigh up all of the arguments for each side and, hopefully, come to a conclusion.