Democratic deficit

The glossary is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon.

The democratic deficit is a concept invoked principally in the argument that the European Union and its various bodies suffer from a lack of democracy and seem inaccessible to the ordinary citizen because their method of operating is so complex. The view is that the Community institutional set-up is dominated by an institution combining legislative and government powers (the Council of the European Union) and an institution that lacks democratic legitimacy (the European Commission).

At every stage of the European integration process, the question of democratic legitimacy has become increasingly sensitive. The Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaties have triggered the inclusion of the principle of democratic legitimacy within the institutional system by reinforcing the powers of Parliament with regard to the appointment and control of the Commission and successively extending the scope of the codecision procedure.

Following the Nice European Council (December 2000), a broad public debate on the future of the Union started, in which citizens could take part, and a European Convention was asked to examine various ways of improving democratic legitimacy.

See:

• Debate on the future of the European Union
• European Convention
• European Parliament
• Governance
• National parliaments
• Clarity of the Treaties (simplification of the Treaties)
• Simplification of legislation
• Subsidiarity
• Transparency (access to documents)