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Presentation speakers
- Sozer Cizmeci, Independent Researcher
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Abstract:
European Union today stands on her continent as one of the most amazing human projects of the world. At the same time Europe, as the cradle of modern democracies has long been laid herself open to criticisms about the democratic deficit in this European Union. From the House of Lords to the Bundestag, from Lok Sabha (India) to Knesset (Israel); Parliaments all around the world with their all pride and glory represents houses of demos. The most substantial criticism about the democracy in the European Union is related to this fact; the weakness of the European Parliament. However looking closely, it might seem as though different dynamics of the European Union deserve a different type of perception. It would be unjust to call the European Union an undemocratic entity. It would be also inappropriate to apply classical democratic theory within the European Union terms. As the paper will illustrate, no demos thesis provides a substantial ground for the searching democracy within different criteria rather than state centric classical democratic criteria. The main theme of the paper is focused on two main drawbacks of the European political integration, Comitology and Executive Dominance. These two features of the European Union act against what we are normally familiar with the democratic elements: representativeness, participation, competition for government, accountability and transparency. Efficiency on the other hand constitutes the most important figure of the out-put oriented legitimacy within the European Union. Since indirect legitimacy for almost all intergovernmental organisations is a legitimizing function, but should not be given main importance in regards to the European Union. However in assessing the European democracy, all the realities of the European Union should be considered. As a result, the democratic deficit in the Union should be considered on an individual basis and from the perspectives of parties to be affected by it. In this regard, the new governance initiatives and attempts at the civilianization of political decision making, at least, illustrate that political spill-over has also a democratic spill-over effect and represents a very large potential for the progressive democratization of the European Union.
