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The question of whether the governance of the European Union (EU) lacks democratic legitimacy has been debated since the time of the European Economic Community in the late 1970s. This led in part to an elected European Parliament being created in 1979 and given the power to approve or reject EU legislation. Since then, usage of the term has ...
In the past several years, the European Union (EU) has been going through a crisis that has been described as a "crisis of legitimacy" or as a " democratic deficit". To overcome this, the EU has put in place different strategies, one of them being that of participatory democracy .
Political opposition within the EU has been described as "paradoxical". The EU, as a polity, has been characterised as "fiercely opposed". [9] Since the Maastricht Treaty, there has been widespread public opposition to further European integration, known as a "constraining dissensus". [10]
Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. Decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen. Political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union. -
The strong abstention at the European parliament elections is considered as undermining the democratic nature [93] of European Union as a whole "because it calls legitimacy into question or because low turnout implies lack of representation of certain groups". [72]
[18] [19] The European Parliament was created to give more democratic legitimacy to the EU but shares legislative power with the Council of the European Union, which has one vote per country. The UN Parliamentary Assembly has been proposed as a way of ameliorating a democratic deficit within the United Nations. [20]
The politics of Europe deals with the continually evolving politics within the continent of Europe. [1] It is a topic far more detailed than other continents due to a number of factors including the long history of nation states in the region as well as the modern day trend towards increased political unity amongst the European states.
There are three types of government systems in European politics: in a presidential system, the president is the head of state and the head of government; in a semi-presidential system, the president and the prime minister share a number of competences; finally, in a parliamentary republic, the president is a ceremonial figurehead who has few political competences.