The Democracy Project http://www.the-democracy-project.org Politics in Europe Thu, 10 May 2012 14:36:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 The Role of the European Parliament and of the European Commission http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-role-of-the-european-parliament-and-of-the-european-commission/ http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-role-of-the-european-parliament-and-of-the-european-commission/#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:59:56 +0000 Reformist http://www.the-democracy-project.org/?p=18 The European Parliament (EP) was founded in 1952 as the Common Assembly of, at that time, the European Coal and Steel Community. The new name of the Parliament was adopted in 1962. Nowadays the Members of the European Parliament are elected directly for the period of five years. During the last elections held in 2009 736 Members from 27 member states were elected. The number of MEPs per Member states refers to the Member states’ citizens presenting in the total number of EU citizens community.

The EP, as every other democratic parliament, has foremost Legislative, Budgetary and Supervisory roles. MEPs are responsible for the legislative role of the European Union through the adaption and modification of the European laws. They adapt the EU budget and supervise its expenditure. Two additional roles are characteristic for the European Parliament – the Relations with national parliaments, through regular joint to the parliamentary assembly work, and the role of the defender of the Human rights and democracy, as the fundamental right in the EU. The EP elects also the President of the European Commission.

The tasks of MEPS

It is important to understand that the MEPs represent their political affiliations and not their national interests. In that sense are the MEPs in the period 2009/2014 organized into 7 political groups and 20 parliamentary committees. Each Parliamentary committee consists of between 24 and 76 MEPs. The work of MEPS is, due to the complicity of their responsibilities, divided between Parliaments in Strasburg, where the plenary sessions take place, Brussels, where they attend meetings of the parliamentary committees and political groups, and additional plenary sessions and their own constituencies.

Difference between EU, EP and EC

While the role of the EU is at the first place of legislative nature, the role of the European Commission (EC) is executive. The main roles of the Commission are to define objectives and priorities for further EU development, to propose legislation to Parliament and Council, to manage and implement the EU budget policies and, together with the Court of Justice, to enforce the European Law and to represent the EU as a one entity outside Europe. The EC fulfills these duties by promoting the EU general interest, by being a part of a decision-making process, by supervising the implementation of the Treaties and European law and by managing the common policies and funds. The EC team is represented by 27 Commissioners – the EC President and 26 more Commissioners. One representative per Member State country is elected for the period of five years. Their work is supported by 23.000 staff members in directorates-general (DGs) or services and divided between its headquarters in Brussels, offices in Luxembourg and the Delegations of the EC.

Img.: Ingo Bartussek – Fotolia

]]> http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-role-of-the-european-parliament-and-of-the-european-commission/feed/ 0 The European Union: Establishment and History http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-european-union-establishment-and-history/ http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-european-union-establishment-and-history/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:56:50 +0000 Reformist http://www.the-democracy-project.org/?p=15 Originally conceived as an idea in 1945 after World War II, The European Union, or EU as it often known, is a political and economic union of 27 independent member states situated in Europe. First established in 1958 under the name The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the union originally consisted of just six members; Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany and was set up to reduce the risks of any form of extreme nationalism that had ravaged the continent during its recent history. It wasn’t until the Maastricht Treaty of 1993 that the union was given the name that we know today.

Growth of the European Union

Despite its relative popularity, and the backing it received, especially from those who had directly experienced the atrocities of the war, it wasn’t until 1973 that the European Union began to grown in terms of member states. It was on 1st of January of that that Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined to take its membership up to six. However, it wouldn’t be too long before other countries fallowed suit, which, unsurprisingly, coincided with the fall of the last two right-wing dictators in Western Europe – the Salazar regime in Portugal and General Franco in Spain. After the fall of these regimes, the EU began to assert its influence in European affairs.

The Member states of the European Union

Today, the European Union consists of 27 sovereign Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. To become a member of the EU, a state must comply with the terms of the Copenhagen criteria, which was defined in 1993 and requires all member states, amongst other things, to have a stable democracy, to respect human right and the rule of law and to have functioning and competitive market economy.

Image: Flexmedia – Fotolia

]]> http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-european-union-establishment-and-history/feed/ 0 Members and Parties of the European Parliament http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/members-and-parties-of-the-european-parliament/ http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/members-and-parties-of-the-european-parliament/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:53:59 +0000 Reformist http://www.the-democracy-project.org/?p=12 At first, some General information about the European Parliament: It is situated in Strasbourg, but it also has functions in Brussels and Luxembourg. The citizens of the EU select the members of the European Parliament every five years. There is no real difference between government members and opposition members, because the European Parliament doesn´t elect a government in the traditional sense. That`s the reason why the European Parliament hasn`t got as many rights as other national parliaments.

Members of the European Parliament

Since the election in July 2009 there were only 736 members but after the “Treaty of Lisbon” the number was extended to 754 members. The new 18 members will start their office on 13th of December 2011. After the coming election in 2014 there will be 750 members and further the parliament president, who is not allowed to vote. The current president of the European Parliament is Jerzy Buzek (EVP), who officially is in office from 2009 to 2014. Finally it is important to mention that the work of parliament members has been despatched from countries all over the world.

Parties and fractions of the European Parliament

Today the Parliament is devided in 7 fractions: The first is called EVP ( which stands for The Christian Democrates) and it contains 264 members. The second fraction is the S&D (The Social Democrates) which counts 185 members. The next one is the ALDE which is the fraction of The Liberals and there are 85 members. Furthermore there also exist the EFA (The Greens) and the ECR (The Conservatives) which both count 56 official members. Additionally there is the NGL (The Left Party) which counts 34 people and the last one is called the EFD (The Euopean Union sceptic people) with 27 members. At last there are 29 members who do not have any party affiliation. Since the elections in 2009, there have been at least 25 members of not less than one quarter of all member states required to build a fraction. In June 2014 there is going to be the next election for the European Parliament and an important point in the future is that as many people as possible attend it.

Img.: Artshot – Fotolia.com

]]> http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/members-and-parties-of-the-european-parliament/feed/ 0 Transparency of the European Parliament http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/transparency-of-the-european-parliament/ http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/transparency-of-the-european-parliament/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:51:29 +0000 Reformist http://www.the-democracy-project.org/?p=9 Europe was built as an economic organization after the Second World War. Her first name was European-Tax-Union (EWG) in 1964. It was a connection between France and Germany in the economic sector. Before this happened the European Union was only an idea, also a definition of a continent. The next step was the enlargement of the compact in the year 1967 the needing of more administration grew. Also the topics were extended in this development, because parallel the conclusion of the European Tax Union, the “Montanunion” and the EURATOM was made.

In the year of 1972 the countries Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway comes to the European Union. In 1979 the member countries vote for the first in direct choice the member of the European Parliament.

The Structure of the European Union

The European Union was constituted as international institution with independent members. For specific themes they have institutions. In article 7 of the EG-Trade the organs of the contract are known. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Consult, the European Judgement Court and the European Financial Court. On the economic sector the contract sees more regulation instruments. The article 8 declares the foundation of the European Central Bank where the reserves for the European Union are hold and proofs the stability in the member countries. Of this reason the ECB is also the controller about the stability compact. Also the Bank of investigations which is confirmed by the article 9 of the EC-Compact, has only the ability in the regulation of the compact. Of this reason the European Union isn’t a federal system like Germany or the United States of America.

Transparency of the European Parliament

Because of this the European Parliament have another definition of the Quorum and the weights of the votes. The candidates are also members of parties on the international issues, comparable with the national parties. But their candidates are more dependent of their home-countries and are selected by a fixed quote (see article 190 EC-Compact). The quote exists of the reason of the different number of citizens in the specific member country. The fairness of this system results of the economic strength and the fairness of the economic compact. In the last year different movements in the European countries are born, which wanted to get more influence and more transparency of the parliamentary decisions. The transparency of the parliament can be matched by different variables. On the scientific sector the searcher can fix the transparency with the numbers of the votes, the meetings, the reports, the period of the meetings and the influences of the other institutions of the decisions. These numeral methods are very clear, but sometimes they cover developments. Of this reason it is really important to ask the right questions and don’t be silent about consequences of the quantitative system. Then the rules and rights are only a try of arrangement of a complex system and the right mind of the institutional characters comes with right thinking peoples. In the opposite there’re qualitative methods, which work with all information in context sentences. The consequence of this method is the amount of information, which aggravate the conclusion. In the end, it is really important to accept the rights of the actors, the countries, and also to avoid a damage of the functionality of the European Union.

Picture: finecki – Fotolia

]]> http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/transparency-of-the-european-parliament/feed/ 0 The roles of Germany and France in the European Union http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-roles-of-germany-and-france-in-the-european-union/ http://www.the-democracy-project.org/politics/the-roles-of-germany-and-france-in-the-european-union/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:48:53 +0000 Reformist http://www.the-democracy-project.org/?p=5 Germany and France are two of the six founding states of the European Union, which nowadays consists of 27 sovereign states. Having always played a leading role in the European Union, Germany and France currently struggle to make the Euro survive the Greek crisis.

Before 1990

After the Second World War, the European Union is set up by the six founder states with the goal to prevent further wars between the neighbors. During this time France is one of the most important powers in the European Union. It controls one quarter of Germany, where French troops are stationed. Still weakened by World War II, (West-) Germany only plays a minor role.

After 1990

The reunion of West- and East-Germany helped the country to rise back to power. Germany is now the state with the strongest economy and France loses its role as predominant power. In 1990 Germany and France initiate the “Maastricht-Treaty”, which is still one of the most important documents of the European Union. The treaty lists all the criteria, states have to fulfill if they wish to join the union. In the following years many other projects that were already mentioned in the Maastricht Treaty such as a common currency and shared foreign and security policy were tackled by the two states. Germany and France therefore are often considered the “engine of the European Union”.

The current European Financial Crisis

As the two states with the strongest economy in Europe, Germany and France function as the main actors in the current crisis. Both Germany and France are among the main donors as far as financial aid for Greece is concerned; furthermore they decided about new laws concerning Greece and forced the struggling country towards a severe economic monetary policy. Despite disagreeing in certain points – France, for example, would like the European Union to interfere with the economy to a greater extent, which is a notion Germany strongly resents- both countries put on a united front when it came to solving the Eurozone Crisis. Currently, German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy are considering a modification of the EU treaty; the role of the ECB however, should remain untouched, as Merkel pointed out. The treaty changes are to provide the possibility of imposing a greater budget discipline on heavily indebted EU countries and give the European Court of Justice the means to penalize states that violate the treaty.

Picture: richterfoto: Fotolia

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