Chamber of secrets

May 29, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

It may be the democratic pillar of Europe, but the legitimacy of the European Parliament has come under fire as more decision-making is moved to closed-door committees and the chamber itself functions more as a rubber-stamping than a forum for public debate.

With the Lisbon Treaty set to further ramp up the parliament’s power, its function and accountability becomes increasingly pertinent. In a new report the Centre for European Policy Studies warns the parliament actually risks undermining itself through its efforts to streamline its increasingly weighty workload.

The centre found while the parliament’s work procedures have become increasingly complex since the EU’s “big bang” enlargement five years ago (with 12 new languages thrown into the mix), it has struggled to remain efficient. This, in turn, has prompted a fast-tracking of agreements with the Council of Europe – whose job is to give the union leadership – and to decisions being passed down to committees at the cost of debate.

“Should bureaucratisation increasingly trump politicisation, the legitimacy of the European Parliament will be undermined, and voters will become ever more alienated from its work,” said the policy studies report, titled The European Parliament – More Powerful, Less Legitimate? “It is crucial to balance efficiency of output with a more politicised policy style that is able to capture public interest.”

And indeed few can boast a solid grasp of the complex function of the parliament, with voter apathy grabbing headlines in the lead-up to the polls. This suggests that cutting down on the work carried out in the public chamber can only serve to further alienate the public from the parliament’s work.

This is something it must get to grips with before the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, says the report, which although designed to simplify parliamentary processes, will expand decision-making “to areas such as fisheries and agriculture”, among others, and “grant the parliament additional powers in areas the EU did not have competences such as sport and tourism.”

So with its remit set to dramatically expand, concerns are being raised about the continued decision-making capacity of the parliament and how the Lisbon reforms will affect the institution’s delicate internal balance – and its legitimacy. There’s no time like election time – and as the Centre for European Policy Studies puts it, if the parliament fails to capture the public’s interest during its time of evolution, “its institutional raison d’être as the democratic pillar of the European Union will be in jeopardy.”

Source: europeanelections2009.france24.com