The European Faithful
Charlemagne, The Economist | July 7, 2010
The European Union has forged a peculiar type of bureaucracy. ++ Eurocrats are a class of true believers who see their role in furthering European integration as not merely a job but a divine calling. ++ As the defenders of a greater ideal against the evils of nationalism, Eurocrats have developed a disdain for the inconvenient realities of democratic dialogue. ++ An elected yet unaccountable European Parliament cannot establish a pan-European democracy. ++ “In the real world when democracy gets much beyond the nation-state, it stumbles.”
Sat, Jul 24th 2010, 17:55
Member deleted
Perhaps one way to overcome this dilemma is to further expand the role of national parliaments at the EU level. Although the Lisbon Treaty provided for a procedure in which national parliaments can require the Commission to re-examine its proposals in light of the principle of subsidiarity, those proposals are still permitted to proceed to debate in the European Parliament and Council so long as the Commission explains itself. (http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/glance/democracy/index_en.htm) Perhaps a procedure could be set forth which would deem legislation automatically rejected by the European Parliament if a sufficiently large number of national parliaments oppose it. In that way, the European Parliament might stand to gain true democratic legitimacy.