scholarly journals Europa po Traktacie z Lizbony – słowa i rzeczywistość

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Stanisław KONOPACKI

The Treaty of Lisbon, which became effective on December 1 2009, provides for the transformation of the European Union into a more democratic, efficient and united community. This paper attempts to assess to what extent its provisions are reflected in the current reality of a united Europe. On the one hand, democratic legitimization of the EU is growing as a result of increasing competencies of the European Parliament, the rights of national parliaments, and so-called citizens’ initiatives. However, the turnout in the last European elections, the increasing popularity of extremist right-wing parties, the work of the European Convention and restrictions imposed on the free movement of persons show that EU practice is far from the complete implementation of democratic values. Secondly, the Lisbon Treaty provides for higher EU efficiency in the international arena. This cannot be achieved, though, by electing people devoid of charisma, experience and a vision of a united Europe to the highest positions, such as EU president or chief of diplomacy. Last but not least, the new treaty provides for energy solidarity. Yet the work of the European Parliament, which is expected to translate these words into practice, is burdened by an increasing number of doubts and difficulties.

1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix ◽  
Christopher Lord

THE SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT AND THE MAASTRICHT TREATY attempted to balance two principles of representation in their redesign of the institutional structures of the European Union: the one, based on the indirect representation of publics through nationally elected governments in the European Council and Council of Ministers; the other, based on the direct representation of publics through a more powerful European Parliament. There is much to be said for this balance, for neither of the two principles can, on its own, be an adequate solution at this stage in the development of the EU. The Council suffers from a non-transparent style of decision-making and is, in the view of many, closer to oligarchic than to democratic politics. On the other hand, the claims of the European Parliament to represent public sentiments on European integration are limited by low voter participation, the second-order nature of European elections and the still Protean nature of what we might call a transnational European demos. The EU lacks a single public arena of political debate, communications and shared meanings; of partisan aggregation and political entrepreneurship; and of high and even acceptance, across issues and member states, that it is European and not national majority views which should count in collective rule-making.


Author(s):  
Jacek Zieliński

The necessity of the single migration- and terrorism-related legal policy development within the European Union is undisputed. It may turn out, however, that measures taken would not bring any improvement unless the priorities within such values as equality, respect for diversity, free movement of persons, solidarity and citizens’ security are previously established, sometimes – with a new content. The Author takes the position that the values considered now to be the core of the EU existence and its key achievement can underpin its disintegration. The escalation of migration stimulates centrifugal destructive movements reflected in the increasing impact of the renationalisation philosophy of thinking about Europe on the Community solidarity, fossilisation of social moods and expectations, growing popularity of right-wing parties. All these, in consequence, foster the fossilisation and restrictiveness of law. It is related in part to the fear of globalisation and in part to the excessive regulations at the macro level, therefore to the breach of self-identification security that is getting more and more apparent nowadays. From that perspective, the separation of the contradictions that have arisen between the basic EU values as regards providing single legal policy in the migration area seems to be cognitively valuable. Another issue is to answer the question how this wave of refugees has escalated and whose interest is currently in the destabilisation of Europe. The question is all the more important that the refugees are not heading towards other culturally closer Islamic countries or the USA but the pillar-states of the EU. Vienotas ar migrāciju un terorismu saistītas tiesiskās politikas nepieciešamība Eiropas Savienībā ir neapstrīdama. Tomēr var izrādīties, ka veiktie pasākumi neradīs nekādu uzlabojumu, ja vien kā prioritātes netiks izvirzītas tādas vērtības kā vienlīdzība, cieņa pret dažādību, personu brīva pārvietošanās, solidaritāte un iedzīvotāju drošība, kas jau ir paredzētas, dažreiz – ar jaunu saturu. Autors pauž nostāju, ka vērtības, kas šobrīd ir ES pastāvēšanas kodols un tās galvenais sasniegums, var veicināt tās sabrukumu. Migrācijas eskalācija stimulē destruktīvas centrbēdzes kustības, kas atspoguļojas pieaugošā ietekmē uz renacionalizācijas filozofiju, domājot par Eiropas Kopienas solidaritāti, sociālo noskaņu un vēlmju fosilizāciju, labējo partiju pieaugošo popularitāti. Tas viss var veicināt likuma fosilizāciju un modifikāciju, turklāt tas daļēji ir saistīts ar bailēm no globalizācijas un ar pārmērīgajiem noteikumiem makrolīmenī, līdz ar to pārkāpjot pašidentifikācijas drošību. No šī viedokļa raugoties, pretrunu, kas radušās starp galvenajām ES pamatvērtībām un attiecībā uz vienotu tiesisku politiku migrācijas jomā, nodalīšana ir neapstrīdami nepieciešama. Vēl viens jautājums, kas prasa atbildi, ir: kādēļ šis bēgļu vilnis ir eskalējies un kā interesēs pašlaik notiek destabilizācija Eiropā? Un kāpēc bēgļi nedodas uz citām kultūras ziņā tuvākām islāma valstīm vai ASV, bet gan tieši uz Eiropu?


Author(s):  
Andrii Martynov

The politics of the European Union are different from other organizations and states due to the unique nature of the EU. The common institutions mix the intergovernmental and supranational aspects of the EU. The EU treaties declare the EU to be based on representative democracy and direct elections take place to the European Parliament. The Parliament, together with the European Council, works for the legislative arm of the EU. The Council is composed of national governments thus representing the intergovernmental nature of the European Union. The central theme of this research is the influence of the European Union Political system the Results of May 2019 European Parliament Election. The EU supranational legislature plays an important role as a producer of legal norms in the process of European integration and parliamentary scrutiny of the activities of the EU executive. The European Parliament, as a representative institution of the European Union, helps to overcome the stereotypical notions of a “Brussels bureaucracy” that limits the sovereignty of EU member states. The European Parliament is a political field of interaction between European optimists and European skeptics. The new composition of the European Parliament presents political forces focused on a different vision of the strategy and tactics of the European integration process. European federalists in the “European People’s Party” and “European Socialists and Democrats” consider the strategic prospect of creating a confederate “United States of Europe”. The Brexit withdrawal from the EU could help the federalists win over European skeptics. Critics of the supranational project of European integration do not have a majority in the new composition of the European Parliament. But they are widely represented in many national parliaments of EU Member States. The conflicting interaction between European liberals and far-right populists is the political backdrop for much debate in the European Parliament. The result of this process is the medium term development vector of the European Union.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Katharina L. Meissner ◽  
Guri Rosén

Abstract As in nearly all European Union (EU) policy areas, scholars have turned to analysing the role of national parliaments, in addition to that of the European Parliament (EP), in trade politics. Yet, there is limited understanding of how the parliamentarians at the two levels interact. This article fills the gap by conceptualizing these interactions as a continuum ranging between cooperation, coexistence and competition. We use this continuum to explore multilevel party interactions in EU trade talks and show how cooperation compels politicization – national parliamentarians mainly interact with their European colleagues in salient matters. However, we argue that the impact of politicization on multilevel relations between parliamentarians in the EP and national parliaments is conditioned by party-level factors. Hence, we account for how and why politicization triggers multilevel party cooperation across parliaments in the EU through ideological orientation, government position and policy preferences and show how this takes place in the case of trade.


Author(s):  
Ian Bache ◽  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Owen Parker

This chapter focuses on the European Parliament (EP), the one directly elected institution of the European Union. It first provides an overview of the EP’s composition and functions before discussing the struggle for increased powers within the EP. It then considers debates and research on the EP. The focus of contemporary research on the EP include political behaviour and EP elections, the internal politics and organization of the EP, and inter-institutional bargaining between the EP, the European Council, and the European Commission. One theme of the academic debate is the extent to which the EP has become an effective independent actor in the affairs of the EU, and how far it will continue to move in that direction in the future.


Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns

This chapter focuses on the European Parliament (EP), the one directly elected institution of the European Union. It first provides an overview of the EP’s composition and functions, before discussing the struggle for increased powers within the EP. It then considers debates and research on the EP. The focus of contemporary research on the EP includes political behaviour and EP elections, the internal politics and organization of the EP, and inter-institutional bargaining between the EP, the European Council, and the European Commission. One theme of the academic debate is the extent to which the EP has become an effective independent actor in the affairs of the EU.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-735
Author(s):  
Daniela Braun ◽  
Markus Tausendpfund

Despite a higher turnout, the ninth elections to the European Parliament can still be considered as second-order elections . In Germany, the governing parties - in particular the CDU and SPD - experienced a significant loss compared to the 2017 Bundestag elections and the 2014 European elections, whereas the Greens are the winners . The article provides information on the conditions framing the European Parliament elections and focuses on political parties and citizens . The empirical findings show, on the one hand, that the European integration issue is more salient in the manifestos than generally assumed and, on the other hand, that citizens’ knowledge of the European Union continues to be low . Against this background, turnout, electoral choices and reasons for these are discussed . Moreover, the composition of the newly elected European Parliament and possible implications are described . [ZParl, vol . 50 (2019), no . 4, pp . 715 - 735]


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-200
Author(s):  
Natalia Zaslavskaya ◽  

The article examines the evolution of the European Commission appointment procedure in the context of the institutional balance between the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the European Commission. The growing influence of the European Parliament on the appointment of the Commission and the nomination of its President is described as an indicator of the development of integration because it demonstrates how the EU supranational institutional system moves closer to the institutional systems of nation states. The European Parliament has gained power similar to national parliaments. The European elections’ results are taken into account during appointment of the European Commission. Despite remaining existing differences between the EU institutional system and national institutions, the author attempts to apply the Sartori concept in order to examine the dynamics of the EU institutional balance. As Sartori described, interaction between parties in national parliaments and governments and gradual transformation towards party government, similar tendencies could be found on the European level. The analysis of the theoretical interpretations, legal basis and practical experience of the European Commission’s appointment enables the author to determine the increased role of the European Parliament vis-à-vis other institutions and the growing importance of the European parties. The current procedure demonstrates a shift from the technocratic functional approach to an ideological approach leading to a growing importance of European politics.


Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm

This chapter examines the role of national parliaments in the European Union. It first considers the general trend towards de-parliamentarization in the EU before describing the European situation by distinguishing three separate phases, in which the national parliaments have different functions: the transfer of sovereign rights from the Member States to the EU, the exercise of those transferred rights by the EU, and the implementation of European decisions by the Member States. The chapter then explores the question of whether the European Parliament is capable of compensating at the European level for the erosion of legislative authority at the national level. Finally, it discusses the proposal that the European Parliament be vested with the powers typically possessed by national parliaments as a solution to the EU’s legitimacy crisis and argues that full parliamentarization is not the answer.


Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm

Europe is in crisis. With rising unrest among citizens of European Union Member States exemplified by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU), and the growing popularity of anti-EU political parties, this book presents the argument that Europe has to change its method of further integration or risks failure. The book asserts that currently the EU does not have enough sources of legitimation to uphold itself, surviving solely on the legitimation provided by Member States. One popular remedy is the suggestion of ‘parliamentarization’ of the EU, giving the European Parliament the powers typically possessed by national parliaments as a means of heightening its legitimation. This is criticized by the book as expanding the Parliament’s powers would not change the effects of over-constitutionalization as the Parliament is inferior to the constitution. In order to reduce the EU’s legitimacy deficit, the book makes several recommendations, including the re-politicization of the decision-making processes, which can be achieved by reducing treaties to the capacity necessary for their constitutional function; the reinvigoration of European Parliament elections, by having ‘Europeanized’ parties to increase engagement with European society and give voters the opportunity to more immediately influence European politics; and a new division of powers based on subject matter to restrain European expansionism, reserving particular areas of policy to the responsibility of Member States even if this affects the common market.


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