NIC Europe Group Driver Paper

Budapest, April 28-30, 2004.

## GOVERNANCE IN EUROPE IN 2020

**The views expressed in this and other papers associated with the NIC
2020 project**

**are those of individual participants. They are posted for discussion
purposes**

**only and do not represent the views of the US Government.**

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| > NIC Europe Group Driver Paper                                       |
| >                                                                     |
| > Budapest, April 28-30, 2004.                                        |
|                                                                       |
| # GOVERNANCE IN EUROPE IN 2020                                        |
|                                                                       |
| > **Governance**---Discuss the boundaries of common policies within   |
| > an expanded EU in the year 2020 and the key issues and barriers     |
| > that will remain.                                                   |
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| > According to the political scientist Roderick Rhodes, the term      |
| > \"governance\" has at least six different meanings: the minimal     |
| > State, corporate governance, new public management, good            |
| > governance, social-cybernetic systems and self-organized networks.  |
| >                                                                     |
| > The European Commission established its own concept of governance   |
| > in the so-called *White Paper on European Governance*, in which the |
| > term \"European governance\" refers to the rules, processes and     |
| > behavior that affect the way in which powers are exercised at the   |
| > European level, particularly in regard to openness, participation,  |
| > accountability, effectiveness and coherence. These five             |
| > \"principles of good governance\" reinforce those of subsidiarity   |
| > and proportionality.                                                |
| >                                                                     |
| > It is clear that if the EU is to function as a democratic entity in |
| > 2020---by which time it may have more than 30 member states\--it    |
| > not only needs to deepen political integration (in order to make    |
| > its decision-making processes more flexible and to eliminate its    |
| > so-called democratic deficit), but it also needs to improve         |
| > governance on all levels.                                           |
| >                                                                     |
| > **The main problems of the current EU**                             |
| >                                                                     |
| > The current EU suffers from a number of problems related to         |
| > governance.                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| 1.  It is an [institutional hybrid]{.underline} that, due to the way  |
|     it has developed, combines elements of inter-governmental         |
|     cooperation, confederation, and federation.                       |
|                                                                       |
| 2.  It suffers from a [democratic deficit]{.underline} that has       |
|     several causes:                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| -   interactions among top institutions of the EU do not follow the   |
|     democratic models known from national states (clear division of   |
|     powers as well as checks and balances between the executive, the  |
|     legislative, and the judiciary);                                  |
|                                                                       |
| -   the relationship between citizens of national states and EU       |
|     institutions is not direct;                                       |
|                                                                       |
| -   the union is seen as a bureaucratic machinery in which many       |
|     decisions are made outside democratic political control;          |
|                                                                       |
| -   there is so far a very low level of identification of citizens of |
|     nation states with Europe as their political home; in other       |
|     words, Europe is not a political nation, there is almost no       |
|     European *demos*.                                                 |
|                                                                       |
| 3.  Pan-European, [supranational civil society in Europe is still     |
|     very weak]{.underline}, it is fragmented into individual national |
|     civil societies.                                                  |
|                                                                       |
| 4.  European [national states still exercise too much                 |
|     power]{.underline}, which---given the inequalities in their size, |
|     wealth and influence causes problems in developing an effective   |
|     and uniform system of European governance.                        |
|                                                                       |
| 5.  Finally (and this is perhaps the most controversial point), it is |
|     very difficult, if not impossible, to develop a uniform system of |
|     governance, if there is [no common language]{.underline}.         |
|                                                                       |
| > **Solutions proposed by the EU**                                    |
| >                                                                     |
| > *The White Paper* proposes opening up the policy-making process to  |
| > get more people and organizations involved in shaping and           |
| > delivering EU policy. It promotes greater openness, accountability  |
| > and responsibility for all those involved.                          |
| >                                                                     |
| > More specifically, the paper proposes:                              |
|                                                                       |
| 1.  [Better involvement and more openness]{.underline}, which is to   |
|     be achieved, in particular, by a stronger interaction with        |
|     regional and local governments and civil society. The EU wants to |
|     establish a more systematic dialogue with representatives of      |
|     regional and local governments through European and national      |
|     associations.                                                     |
|                                                                       |
| 2.  [Better policies, regulation and delivery]{.underline}, which is  |
|     to be achieved by speeding up the legislative process, while      |
|     finding "the right mix" between a uniform (pan-European) approach |
|     and flexibility in the way the rules are implemented on the       |
|     ground. The paper recommends simplifying existing EU law, while   |
|     improving the enforcement of Community law.                       |
|                                                                       |
| 3.  [Global governance,]{.underline} which seeks to apply the         |
|     principles of good governance to the EU's global                  |
|     responsibilities. That should include, above all, the dialogue    |
|     with governmental and non-governmental actors of thirds           |
|     countries, as well as strengthening the Union's international     |
|     representation in order to allow it to speak with a single voice. |
|                                                                       |
| 4.  [Refocused institutions,]{.underline} which aims especially at    |
|     establishing a stronger link between the goals of the union and   |
|     those of nation states.                                           |
|                                                                       |
| > **Realistic Solutions Now**                                         |
| >                                                                     |
| > It is apparent that the EU, in its current state, can promote some  |
| > solutions aimed at improving governance. For example, it can        |
| > already now adopt measures that advance democracy on national,      |
| > regional, and local levels; in particular, by promoting (or         |
| > enforcing with the help of national states) measures that can help  |
| > achieve greater transparency of political proceedings and proper    |
| > functioning of political parties.                                   |
| >                                                                     |
| > In particular, the EU can, already at its current level of          |
| > development, promote mechanisms that can serve as guarantees for    |
| > open political processes. Specifically, it can---in cooperation     |
| > with nation states---develop sanctions against states, regions, or  |
| > municipalities that hinder equal opportunities for participation in |
| > political processes, especially the access of women to political    |
| > positions. It can also improve the legal and institutional          |
| > framework for the inclusion of minorities in the political process. |
| >                                                                     |
| > The EU can also work with national parliaments and governments to   |
| > develop policies under which member states tolerate diversity,      |
| > develop civic dialogue with the public, and protect independent     |
| > institutions that represent civil society, such public TV and       |
| > radio.                                                              |
| >                                                                     |
| > It should be possible to develop on the European level uniform      |
| > procedures (and monitoring mechanisms) that ensure that citizens of |
| > nation states have proper access to law (publications of legal      |
| > acts, public parliamentary debates, etc.).                          |
| >                                                                     |
| > The EU can certainly promote measures that advance impartial,       |
| > ethical and mediocratic public service, including de-politization   |
| > of public administration.                                           |
| >                                                                     |
| > This can be achieved by promoting "pan-European" uniformity in this |
| > area with the help of common European measures ensuring             |
| > accountability of public administration, training of civil          |
| > servants, transparency, and anti-corruption activities. It is, for  |
| > example, desirable that all EU member states have, at some point,   |
| > identical standards for civil servants.                             |
| >                                                                     |
| > The EU can also promote greater participation of civil society on   |
| > all levels of public life. Civic groups can be given more say in    |
| > shaping public policies, which requires good access of citizens to  |
| > information (information technologies that are already available    |
| > make this possible).                                                |
| >                                                                     |
| > Further decentralization is also a way of ensuring greater          |
| > involvement of civil society in democratic governance. It is clear  |
| > that many functions that currently performed by state institutions  |
| > and civil servants could be performed by civic groups in a more     |
| > decentralized model of public administration.                       |
| >                                                                     |
| > **Governance in 2020**                                              |
| >                                                                     |
| > Despite all such measures, that can be gradually implemented by the |
| > EU even in its current state, it clear that a system of really      |
| > effective, good governance will not fully materialize, unless some  |
| > major institutional reforms take place in the united Europe.        |
| >                                                                     |
| > First, there is in the EU a significant discrepancy at this point   |
| > between what could be described as "procedural and institutional    |
| > democracy" and "constitutional liberalism." While the nation states |
| > that form the EU have been able to agree on creating a very         |
| > effective system "constitutional liberalism", (or the European,     |
| > transnational rule of law) under which individual freedoms,         |
| > minority rights, and independence of various institutions are       |
| > guaranteed (and protected by European courts), the procedural side  |
| > of democracy on the European level leaves much to be desired.       |
| >                                                                     |
| > The same is true about the "intangible" side of democracy that      |
| > could be described as promoting "a democratic spirit", true respect |
| > for minority views, tolerance, etc. While the EU is good at         |
| > enshrining such values in its body of law, it is not very effective |
| > in promoting a real democratic discourse and helping, especially    |
| > people in new member states (many of which were quite recently      |
| > living in authoritarian regimes) to internalize such values. Some   |
| > of those countries could be described as democracies without        |
| > democrats.                                                          |
| >                                                                     |
| > If the enlarged EU is not to collapse it will need to undergo a     |
| > major overhaul of its decision-making procedures. Good governance   |
| > may remain only a pipe dream, described in a hardly comprehensible  |
| > "eurospeak" in various EU documents, if it does organically grow    |
| > out of a truly united European space, in which a European political |
| > nation will begin to form.                                          |
| >                                                                     |
| > Such a political nation---European *demos---*is a prerequisite for  |
| > any truly uniform and effective system of democratic governance     |
| > across the continent.                                               |
| >                                                                     |
| > What does need to happen?                                           |
|                                                                       |
| 1.  The political unification of Europe must proceed much faster so   |
|     that by the year 2020 decision-making processes on the European   |
|     level resemble what we know from the level of democratic nation   |
|     states. This means creating a real European parliament that       |
|     passes real laws and controls the executive branch. The European  |
|     government must be accountable to such a parliament. In other     |
|     words, a real system of checks and balances must be created on    |
|     the European level.                                               |
|                                                                       |
| 2.  Representatives that citizens of Europe elect, for example, to    |
|     the European parliament must have some real powers and must be    |
|     accountable to their electorates.                                 |
|                                                                       |
| 3.  The role of nation states needs to diminish; otherwise any hopes  |
|     for the creation of a European political nation will not          |
|     materialize. For example, if the European Constitution is adopted |
|     (and the position of the European president with it) it would     |
|     make sense to start phasing out, or greatly reducing importance   |
|     of, national heads of state, as they will become redundant to     |
|     some extent anyway.                                               |
|                                                                       |
| 4.  As first steps, the EU needs to create a common foreign policy,   |
|     security policy, and fiscal policy. Without these pillars, it     |
|     will very difficult for citizens of current nations to identify   |
|     directly with Europe. People identify with states where they pay  |
|     taxes, and which guarantee their external and internal security.  |
|                                                                       |
| 5.  Regardless of institutional developments, it is certain that by   |
|     the year 2020 various national civic groups---ranging from        |
|     professional associations, trade unions and lobbies to pressure   |
|     groups and think thanks---will start cooperating, or even         |
|     coalescing, on the European level. This nascent European civil    |
|     society will become a driving force for further political         |
|     integration.                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| 6.  Europe will also find it difficult to introduce a system of truly |
|     democratic governance, unless it is decentralized even more than  |
|     today. National governments will transfer much of their power to  |
|     regions and municipalities by 2020, and those lower units will    |
|     work much more than today directly with Brussels. "Breaking up"   |
|     traditional national states into more "neutral" regions of equal  |
|     size is one of preconditions for creating a pan-European system   |
|     of governance.                                                    |
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|                                                                       |
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