The EU Flashcards
arguments that the EU is fundamentally an undemocratic organisation
the European Commission is not directly elected yet initiates policy
national governments can be outvoted under QMV and this may mean that the will of the electorate is thwarted
the European Parliament is the only directly elected body in the EU, yet it is not sufficiently powerful
arguments that the EU is NOT fundamentally an undemocratic organisation
the unelected Commission initiates legislation, but it is accountable to the European Parliament and its key personnel are nominated by national governments
the purpose of QMV is to make decision making in the Council as fair as possible, strengthening democracy rather than undermining it (balances the rights of small and big states, encourages cooperation)
the European Parliament is gradually becoming more powerful and this trend is likely to continue
the European Commission is not directly elected yet initiates policy
(the role of the commission)
legislation is initiated by the European Commission, which is not directly elected
the European Commission is the executive body of the EU, it has mainly political and administrative functions
it is unelected yet has huge legislative responsibilities including initiating draft legislation, proposing EU laws, ensuring that legislation is applied correctly and enforcing EU laws on member states and other governments
it also administers EU expenditure, collects revenue and prepares the EU budget
it is unelected, yet has such a huge impact, which is arguably undemocratic as it does not have the explicit consent of the people
the European Commission is not directly elected yet initiates policy
(example of the commission having a huge impact on national law)
Common Fisheries Policy
since 1983, the EU has regulated the amount of deep-sea fish that could be caught with a system of quotas
it has also allowed fishing boats from different member states to have equal access to each other’s fishing grounds
critics argued that this allowed large fishing fleets from other countries to drive small UK trawler operators out of business
fishing was at the centre of the landmark ruling in the 1990 Factortame case - a Spanish fishing company called Factortame sued the UK government for restricting its access to UK waters
the law lords ruled that the 1988 Merchant Shipping Act which the government was using to justify his actions could not be allowed to stand because it violated EU law
this case established the primacy of EU law over an act of Parliament – the laws that an unelected body initiates takes primacy over the laws initiated by our own elected government, which is arguably undemocratic
the unelected Commission initiates legislation, but it is accountable to the European Parliament and its key personnel are nominated by national governments
the unelected Commission initiates legislation, but it is accountable to the European Parliament and its key personnel are nominated by national governments
the European Parliament is a supranational body and the only directly elected EU institution
it can accept or reject nominations to the Commission and enjoys the right of co-decision on most legislation with the Council of the European Union
members of the European Parliament represent large, regional constituencies and have democratic legitimacy as they have been elected
in turn, commissioners are nominated by national governments and approved by the European Parliament
there is one commissioner from each member state
the President of the Commission is nominated by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament, so there is some degree of indirect democratic legitimacy
furthermore, the EU also does not have power in key areas of national life such as taxation, social security and education
national governments can be outvoted under QMV and this may mean that the will of the electorate is thwarted
national governments can be outvoted under QMV and this may mean that the will of the electorate is thwarted
the Council of the European Union uses qualified majority voting (QMV) in 80% of legislation put before it
QMV is a special type of majority vote that requires…
– 55% of member states to agree to the decision
– 65% of the population of the EU to support the decision
this means that our elected government may vote against a measure but be forced to adopt it anyway due to being outvoted
the will of the people being thwarted is especially problematic considering that many citizens do not understand or identify with the EU, seeing it as too distant and too complex, they have also opposed many of its developments yet been forced to adopt them anyway
a reason for Brexit and the vote to leave - people want parliament to be sovereign again and not to be overridden by the EU
the purpose of QMV is to make decision making in the Council as fair as possible
the purpose of QMV is to make decision making in the Council as fair as possible
the ‘double majority’ rule of QMV essentially means that in theory, no country has a veto
QMV is designed to balance the interests of big and small states
among the 28 current members of the EU, 20 have populations of less than 2.5% of the EU’s 508 million people
the total population of the 20 smallest countries is less than the population of Germany and the UK combined, while the largest four countries (Germany, the UK, France and Italy) have a combined population of around 273 million
a double majority vote, therefore, requires a combination of both big and small states
neither big nor small states can gang up on the others because 65% of the population of the EU needs to support the measure
neither all the small states or all the big states make up this population alone, meaning that both big and small states will need to support the measure in order for it to pass
therefore, QMV balances the right of the small member states not to be railroaded by the demands of the bigger states with the right of the bigger states not to be thwarted by the smaller states
QMV is rarely used to force countries to accept measures that they do not want – rather, it encourages those who might use their veto to negotiate as good a real as they can get
it is difficult to get all 28 member states to agree, especially if each member state has a veto
so QMV makes each member state realise that if they are in a minority, they might have to accept the decision of the majority and a decision that they do not want
to avoid this they should start negotiating with other member states to get the best deal they can
the European Parliament is the only directly elected body in the EU, yet it is not sufficiently powerful
the European Parliament is the only directly elected body in the EU, yet it is the one that lacks power
as discussed above, it can accept or reject nominations to the commission and enjoys the right of co-decision on most legislation with the Council of the European Union, but is considerably less powerful than the other institutions of the EU despite being the only one with direct backing from the people
members of the European Parliament represent large, regional constituencies
moreover, the European Parliament itself can be seen as lacking democratic legitimacy because elections to the European Parliament are dominated by national issues and turnout is low
turnout in 2019 was around 50% across the EU, which is the highest it has been for 20 years, yet this is still worryingly low and indicates that people are not engaging in the democracy of the EU
the European Parliament is gradually becoming more powerful and this trend is likely to continue
the European Parliament is gradually becoming more powerful and this trend is likely to continue
the Lisbon Treaty gave the European Parliament important new powers
originally, Parliament had the right merely to be consulted on secondary legislation but the Lisbon Treaty then allowed it the right of co-decision on most legislation with the Council of the European Union
the Parliament also exerts significant control over the executive through its power to approve the President of the Commission and the Commission; its power, by vote of censure, to dismiss the entire Commission; its powers of scrutiny, including the ability to question Commissioners orally or in writing; and its power to reject the annual budget
this suggests that the EU is not a fundamentally undemocratic institution as its elected body is now rising in power and influence
