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Participatory
Democracy
and the
E.U. Constitution
The Constitution makes some steps
towards making the European Union and its institutions more democratic. For
a start the European Parliament gets the right to co-legislate in all areas
of legislation that are subject to qualified majority voting in the council
of ministers.
Also, the European assembly will have a say in the election of the
Commission President - the draft commits EU leaders to "take into
account" the results of the European elections when choosing a new
leader for the EU executive. However, this is only a minor improvement and
will only go some way to giving the Commission President the democratic
legitimacy needed.
Similarly, a new article on participatory democracy has been
drawn up which suggests that if one million citizens from a "significant"
number of states sign a petition, then they can ask the Commission to submit
a legislative proposal on its subject matter.
It also allows for more involvement by national parliament whereby 1/3 of
national parliaments could demand a review of a commission proposal if it
breaches the subsidiarity principle (which states the Union only takes
action when it is more effective than action taken at the national or local
level). However, they cannot veto it - but they may ask the European Court
of Justice to rule on whether legislation has breached the subsidiarity
principle.
...
Assuming the
document is signed at the 17-18 June Summit, the text will have to go
through the ratification procedure in each of the 25 member states.
The Constitution states that if 4/5 of member states have ratified the text
after two years, and some states still have not, then EU leaders will
discuss the matter.
[Taken from http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=15260
]
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