Normative Perspectives on European Governance: Technocracy v. Democracy? Lecture at the EUIJ-Kyushu, Kyushu University EU Centre Fukuoka, 25 July 2014 PROF.DR. THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY
• The Nature of the EU and its ‘democratic deficit’ • Democracy, the nation state and EU legitimacy • The practice of democracy within states • The Institutional Architecture of the EU • Democratic practice in the EU • The Role of the European Parliament ● EU Democracy beyond the EP • EU Legitimcy beyond Democracy: Technocracy • New perspectives after the Lisbon Treaty • Lessons from the 2014 EP Elections
• Neither a state... o  No sovereign power o  No control over territory o  No demos •  ... nor an international organisation o  Law-making authority 0  Permanent limits to the power of states o  Citizenship 0  Gradual sense of belonging among EU citizens • European integration situated conceptually between diplomacy, democracy and technocracy 0  Integration goes  ‘too far’ in terms of limits to state sovereignty 0  Integration does not go  'far enough'  in terms of supranational democracy 0  Important parts of the European Union still rely on output legitmacy
•  Implicit comparison between the EU and... what? o  Nation-state 0  Ideal type of democratic arrangements × Majoritarian rule by  'the people' ×  Reliance of established processes (elections, parties, etc) • These implicit assumptions might be questioned 0  Is the nation-state really the right reference point for analysing the EU? o  Does democracy really operate as it should be? • Need to explore both the nature of the EU and the nature of democracy before normative judgements about any ‘deficit’ can be made •   Important to recognize that EU legitimacy is not purely democratic, but also technocratic
• Democracy implies the interaction between demos (the people) and kratos (power) •  (National) identity crucial to the establishment of the nation-state: link between community and government following the French Revolution o Search for a European identity to replace national identities remains futile • Critical questions about the capacity of the European Union to be democratic in the absence of a European people • Attempts to re-conceptualise EU integration outside the traditional of the modern nation-state o  Constitutional patriotism at the EU level (Habermas) 0  Recognition of a Europe of multiple demoi –  ‘demoicracy’ ?
●  Unpacking  ‘Democracy’ : o  Liberal? Constitutional? o Majoritarian? 0 Participatory/representative? o Deliberative? • The Limits of Democracy: checks and balances go beyond electoral politics o  Separation of powers 0  Role of (constitutional) courts o Multilevel systems 0  Independent agencies (e.g. banks, regulators)
• Limits to majoritarian democracy are often accepted at the nation-state level • ‘winner-takes-all’ -type elections can be very divisive • Limits might become essential in cases where societal stability is seen to be fragile (divided societies) o Federalism o  Consociationalism and other forms of elite rule o  Reliance on other forms of legitimacy (e.g. charismatic leadership)
● Representative processes 0  Multiple forms of representation o Citizens are being represented indirectly (Council) and directly (EP) • Hybrid nature of representation across the EU institutions 0 Representation of states as equals in the Commission 0 Representation of states and people in the Council 0 Representation of people in the EP
● Reflex to consider the EP as the way of democratising the EU o  Powers of the EP have continually grown × Co-decision ×  Budgetary procedure × Commission appointment/election (enhanced post-Lisbon – might lead to genuine political competition for the Commission Presidency through partisan campaigning) 0  EP now in many ways equal of Council, and in some ways stronger than national parliaments o However, × Voter turn-out at elections low and declining ×  Lack of effective scrutiny of politics in the EP × Traditional ack of media attention to EP procedures ×  Other aspects of EU democracy matter too...
o Council is the second chamber of the EU legislature o  Transparency of Council decision-making ×  Role of working groups, COREPER, A/B points ×  Pre-cooking of legislative decision-making by administrators Scrutiny of member state interest representation in the Council at the national o level ×  QMV makes effective scrutiny difficult ×  Role of national parliaments (e.g. Danish Folketing) Other ways of legitimating decision-making in the EU o EU as a 'regulatory state' 0 Nature of EU decision-making as problem-solving, efficiency-oriented policy- making 0  Importance of independence of EU institutions from majoritarian and electoral politics 0  The value of deliberation in EU committees and other fora Accountability and legitimacy are generic concepts are better applied to the EU than traditional nation-state democracy o
•  Other means of legitimating decision-making in the EU o EU as a ‘regulatory state’ 0 Nature of EU decision-making as problem-solving, efficiency-oriented policy-making 0 Importance of independence of EU institutions from majoritarian and electoral politics 0 The value of deliberation in EU committees and other fora •  Accountability and legitimacy are generic concepts are better applied to the EU than traditional nation-state democracy
• Further extension of the powers of the EP • Changed majority voting procedures in the Council to take greater account of population size • Reference in the treaty to both representative and participatory democracy • Creation of new instruments to bring Europe ‘closer to the citizens o  European Citizen Initiative 0  Early Warning System allowing national parliaments to scrutinise EU draft legislation • New election procedure for Commission President
o Major political parties seize the initiative to nominate candidates for Commission presidency o Series of debates among these leading candidates – Spitzenkandidaten in the German terminology – produces greater public awareness of the EU and its institutions o Inter-institutional tensions after the elections between EP and state leaders in the European Council o Success of EP in pushing through Jean-Claude Juncker as Commission President opens the door for new politics in the EU: o  Closer cooperation between Commission and EP 0  Grand coalition between Christian-Democrats, Socialists and Liberals formalised 0  Foundations laids for more party politics and a more parliamentary EU o Potential for future tensions between traditional technocratic legitimacy and the greater reliance on majoritarian democracy