The Role of the European Parliament in Eliminating 'Democratic Deficit' in the EU: Its Impact on the Institutional Power Balance of the EU-A View From Japan

• 児玉 昌己

  長崎純心大学人文学部比較文化学科

抄録

The aim of this paper is to analyse the 'democratic deficit' in the European Union (EU) and to examine the role of the European Parliament in eliminating the deficit. As far as the democracy issue is concerned, the democratic deficit has been one of the most acute problems in the European Community (EC) and European Union (EU) in the face of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the revision of the Treaty on the European Union, known as Maastricht II. This paper will take a legalistic and institutional approach in analysing the democratic deficit in the governance of Europe, focusing on the role of the European Parliament in its elimination. As for the impact of the move to eliminate the demo- cratic deficit upon the Commission, it can be pointed out that two clear trends in the Commission will be promoted. The first is a shift in the role of the Commission to a more parliamentary organ. The second is a shift of the Commission to a more administrative oriented one in the power relations in the legislative process. The Commission will be forced to co-operate with the EP in playing its role as a promoter of integration. The parliamentary and the administrative nature of the Commission will be encouraged through the process of the appointment of the president and the other members with Artcle 158 and also the indirect legislative initiative exercised by the EP with the new legislative device of Article 138b, respectively introduced by the TEU. I believe that the present negotiations in the Intergovernmental Conference will no doubt encourage these trends. Unless the political leaders and the institutions of the EU are able to cope with the problems of the democratic deficit in this time of an unprecedented level of integration, Margaret Thatcher's nightmare that Europeans are 'driven helter-skelter towards European federalism' will be a reality of tomorrow.

収録刊行物

• 純心人文研究

  純心人文研究 3 51-66, 1997-03-15

  長崎純心大学・長崎純心大学短期大学部

詳細情報

• CRID: 1570854176807480064
• NII論文ID: 110000985854
• NII書誌ID: AN10486493
• ISSN: 13412027
• 本文言語コード: en
• データソース種別:
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