Democratic Deficit in The European Union - Use and Meaning of The Term

Use and Meaning of The Term

The phrase democratic deficit is cited as first being used by the Young European Federalists in their Manifesto in 1977, which was drafted by Richard Corbett. It was also used by David Marquand in 1979, referring to the then European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union. 'Democratic deficit' in relation to the European Union, refers to a perceived lack of accessibility to the ordinary citizen, or lack of representation of the ordinary citizen, and lack of accountability of European Union institutions.

The democratic deficit has been called a 'structural democratic deficit', in that it is inherent in the construction of the European Union as a supranational union that is neither a pure intergovernmental organization, nor a true federal state. The German Constitutional Court, for instance, argues that decision-making processes in the EU remain largely those of an international organization, which would ordinarily be based on the principle of the equality of states. The principle of equality of states and the principle of equality of citizens cannot be reconciled in a Staatenverbund. In other words, in a supranational union or confederation (which is not a federal state) there is a problem of how to reconcile the principle of equality among nation states, which applies to international (intergovernmental) organizations, and the principle of equality among citizens, which applies within nation states.

Read more about this topic:  Democratic Deficit In The European Union

Famous quotes containing the words meaning and/or term:

    Well may Mr. [David] Garrick be so celebrated, so universally admired—I had not any idea of so great a performer. Such ease! such vivacity in his manner! such grace in his motions! such fire and meaning in his eyes!—I could hardly believe he had studied a written part, for every word seemed uttered from the impulse of the moment. ... his voice—so clear, so melodious, yet so wonderfully various in its tones!
    Frances Burney (1752–1840)

    I am a colored woman or a Negro woman. Either one is OK. People dislike those words now. Today these use this term African American. It wouldn’t occur to me to use that. I prefer to think of myself as an American, that’s all!
    Annie Elizabeth Delany (b. 1891)