10 February 2016

Federalists:Improving the efficiency, democracy and legitimacy of the EU institutions within the current Treaties: possibilities and limits

After a first study dedicated to the governance of the Economic and Monetary Union, the present paper will look at the key institutions of the European Union and propose some treaty-compatible solutions to address at least some of the flaws that hinder its democratic and effective functioning.

As the European Union faces one of the most challenging periods of its history, its institutions and their capacity to adapt to the new situation are sorely tested. This Policy Brief has been conceived as a second contribution to the debate which is taking place in the European Parliament about the potential reforms that could improve the Union’s functioning without the need for treaty change. As a complement to the Policy Brief “Strengthening and deepening the Economic and Monetary Union within the current Treaties: Possibilities and Limits (25 Proposals)” published in May 2015, this paper will focus on the general governance structure of the Union, studying the functioning of the three main institutions (the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission).

This paper takes five fundamental benchmarks of governance systems as main objectives (increased parliamentary legitimacy of decisions, streamlined decision-making processes, reinforced accountability of the executive, better implementation of decisions and clearer separation of the executive and the legislative powers). This framework is used to identify the possibilities offered by the Treaty of Lisbon allowing decision makers to address the institutional flaws, dysfunctions and practices that prevent the Union from working in a fully democratic and effective manner. At the same time, it points out actual limitations imposed by the Union’s current legal framework.

The result of this research is a list of 20 proposals that, implemented as a package, could lead to considerable improvements in the functioning of the Union. However, some of them would require as much political will and demanding decision-making processes as Treaty revision. Furthermore the result of their implementation could not be taken as a final settlement, which could only be achieved through a revision of the Treaties or through the adoption of additional Treaties. 

Full paper