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Is the European Union Democratic
Is the European Union Democratic
Summarise the intentions of the Lisbon Treaty
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On 13 December 2007, the European heads of government signed the Lisbon Treaty, which was designed to make the European Union (EU) “more democratic , more transparent and more efficient” (BBC) after twelve new members have been added in 2004 and 2007. Before the treaty could enter into force, it had to be ratified by all EU members.
This essay will summarize the Lisbon Treaty and the governmental and democratic consequences it will have on the EU decision making. It intends to state that Europe has the wish to change and actively tries to do so and partly succeeding, but failing to do so entirely. The treaty has been a victory for Europe over the euro skeptics, but unfortunately will not be able to push Europe much further to the place it needs to be.
The treaty of Lisbon was created after the people of both France and the Netherlands rejected the European Constitution. It was then decided to create a new treaty that builds upon the Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht 1992), and the Treaty Establishing the European Community (Rome 1957), whereas the constitution would start anew by replacing all earlier EU treaties.
Recently, both Ireland and Czech Republic were the last to ratify the treaty. In 2008, the Irish population rejected the Lisbon Treaty through a referendum. However, in October 2009, after some concessions were made by the EU, the Irish population accepted the new treaty through a second referendum. The treaty is now most likely to enter into force by 1 December, 2009. (www.europa-nu.nl)
The treaty extends the competences of the EU, and has some major governmental changes. From 2014 through 2017, a redistribution of voting weights between the member states will take place. The chairmanship of the European Coun...
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... it has been harder to tackle issues and make decisions. The Lisbon Treaty is supposed to solve this problem, but looking at the prospects, it will need an alliance between two countries such as France and Germany to really get something done in the EU. It is a blessing for Europe that Germany and France are able to maintain such a good relationship, but it would be better for the sake of Europe, and the sake of democracy if they need not to bundle their power to keep Europe efficient.
With the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the installation of Herman van Rompuy and Baroness Catherine Ashton, Europe has made another step towards change. Change it desperately needs in order to be able to compete with uprising powers such as China and India. Nonetheless, as we have come to know about Europe, the step taken today is a step too small, and a step taken too slow.
The European Union has been helped economically ever since World War II. Right after World War II’s end, Europe was struggling to hold on. The countries of the modern-day European Union thought it would be a good idea to come together and help each others struggling economy. To this day, this decision has had a very positive outcome on the EU’s economy. As shown in Diagram 1, the European Union combined together has the world’s highest GDP at 18.3 Trillion USD as compared to the United States’ 17.4 Trillion USD GDP and China’s 10.4 Trillion USD GDP. The idea
The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress on November 15, 1777 and ratified by the states on March 1, 1781. It was a modest attempt by a new country to unite itself and form a national government. The Articles set up a Confederation that gave most of the power to the states. Many problems arose and so a new Constitution was written in 1787 in Independence Hall. The new Constitution called for a much more unified government with a lot more power.
The European Union is an example of successful political globalization as there is stability in the region. The European Union has united several countries, specifically “twenty seven European countries” (Davies 1) and there has been benefits to this system. There has been a “reduction in crime, a rise in population, life expectancy and income as well as an improving government.” (Rich 3). Through this political system there has been improvement in not only in the government but in the people’s wellbeing.
After the Declaration of Independence, U.S. became a nation but didn 't have a government to guide the nation. People, the early settlers, suffered by the excessive power of the Monarch so they wanted to incorporate the ideas of ordered government, limited government, and the representative government. Based on these ideas the Article of Confederation was created. Although it was too weak and inadequate to manage all of the states. As the weakness became palpable, the nation required stronger government system and that 's when the Constitution was created as it saved the nation from the crisis. One thing that made the creation of the Constitution possible was the Great Compromise, which was
The case of Francovich had a significant impact on the European Union (EU) law. If a conflict arises between the EU law and the national law, the EU law highly prevails. The European Union law is a framework of treaties and legislation, which have a direct or indirect effect on the laws of the member states which are bound to the European Union. Primary and Secondary laws are the two sources of the EU law. This essay will firstly analyse the main institutions of the European Union and define various legal terms. It will then move on, to discuss the case of Francovich and the importance it had for state liability. Furthermore, it will refer to subsequent cases which are linked with state liability and had an impact on the EU Law. Lastly, my own views about State Liability will be presented.
The Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781 represented the former colonist’s first attempt to establish a new government after the Revolutionary War. These Articles provided a weak political document that was meant to keep the states united temporarily. The states had all the power, so any changes made to the Article of Confederation would take every state to approve it or amend it. In February 1787, Congress decided that a convention should be convened to revise the Article of Confederation (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2009). Congress felt the Article of Confederation was not enough to effectively deal with the young nations issues. Congress knew it was time for the country to move forward, and to do that, there would be some big changes ahead, and that was the end of the Articles of Confederation, and the beginning of the created US Constitution.
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.
To answer this question I will firstly explain how EU law became incorporated within the member states I will then explain the various types of EU legislation's in circulation. This is important to define as the various types of methods will involve different enforcement procedures. Finally I will explain how EU law is enforced and the ways EU law will effect the member state and individual businesses. I will summarise my findings at the end of the essay, this will give details of all the key ideas I have ut across.
Tiilikainen, T. 2011. The empowered European Parliament: Accommodation to the new functions provided by the Lisbon Treaty. The Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
The European Union (EU), since the initial foundation in 1952 as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and throughout periods of development, has been considered one of the most advanced forms of regional integration. It, based on numerous treaties and resolutions, has strived to promote values such as peace, cooperation or democracy, and in 2012 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for having “contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe” (Nobel Media AB, 2012). Despite its struggle for promoting democracy, the EU itself has long experienced scholarly criticisms that it suffers the democratic deficit, from which its democratic legitimacy is undermined by observable problems in political accountability and participation. As the importance of legitimacy in a democratically representative institution is hardly debatable, the criticism of whether and why the EU lacks democracy has been given a considerable gravity in academia.
Europe will not run the 21st century because of a combination of economic, institutional, and cultural factors. However, for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the economic aspects of European society that will impede EU ascendency. I do not believe that the EU will cease to exist in the coming century, but I do believe it will become obsolete because it will be unable to make the necessary changes to their demographic problems, defense policies, and economic culture in response to the increasing American ascendency. Europe has long been known as the continent home to the great powers of the world. From Caesar to Napoleon to the British Empire, the European empires have continuously been at the helm of the ship of progress. The wars of the 20th century however, left Europe in a wake of destruction and chaos period before. The continent was devastated and had little hope to recover. In this new era of European descent, the great American Era came into existence. The US, one of the remaining superpowers, became the helping hand that Europe needed. With the aid allocated by the Marshall Plan and the creation of programs and institutions, Europe had a future. The creation of the European Union (EU) united the European countries over the common goal of preventing war another war. The United States intended for these programs to be a stepping-stone to build the economic and institutional powers of Europe, because a stronger Europe was good for the US. However, instead of using these as a springboard to create self-reliant union, the EU remains reliant on US military and hard power to support them their social efforts.
The doctrine of Supremacy of the EU Law has been adopted from the European Court of Justice, in which the doctrine covers all aspects of law in member states. The supremacy is evidently implied in the Treaty on European Union Article 4(3) and Treaty of the functioning of the European Union Article 18 , which emphasises the prohibitions against discrimination. This is then supported by Article 288 TFEU whereby the regulations are binding upon each member state. Furthermore, Article 344 TFEU ensures resolution between member states. This assignment will discuss to what extent the acceptance of the supremacy of the EU law has been problematic in regards to parliamentary sovereignty.
Europe has been militarily weak since World War II, but it remained unnoticed because of the unique geopolitical context of the Cold War: it was the strategic pivot between the United States and the Soviet Union. With the "new Europe", in 1990s, everybody agreed that Europe will rest...
Senior, Nello Susan. "Chapters:4,15." The European Union: Economics, Policies and History. London: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007 has been termed as the largest single expansion of the EU with a total of 12 new member states – bringing the number of members to 27 – and more than 77 million citizens joining the Commission (Murphy 2006, Neueder 2003, Ross 2011). A majority of the new member states in this enlargement are from the eastern part of the continent and were countries that had just emerged from communist economies (EC 2009, Ross 2011), although overall, the enlargement also saw new member states from very different economic, social and political compared to that of the old member states (EC 2009, Ross 2011). This enlargement was also a historical significance in European history, for it saw the reunification of Europe since the Cold War in a world of increasing globalization (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). For that, overall, this enlargement is considered by many to have been a great success for the EU and its citizens but it is not without its problems and challenges (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). This essay will thus examine the impact of the 2004/2007 enlargements from two perspectives: firstly, the impact of the enlargements on the EU as a whole, and thereafter, how the enlargements have affected the new member states that were acceded during the 2004/2007 periods. Included in the essay will be the extent of their integration into the EU and how being a part of the Commission has contributed to their development as nation states. Following that, this essay will then evaluate the overall success of the enlargement process and whether the EU or the new member states have both benefited from the accessions or whether the enlargement has only proven advantageous to one th...