|
There are a lot of complaint about the "democratic deficit" inn the European community system, but I think this tend to under estimate the contribution of the Council in this regard.
The Council is not a representative assembly purporting to express the collective will of electors. The line of political responsibility runs from its individual members to different national electorates, by way of national parliament and political parties, not from the Council as an institution. Because political pressures are channeled through national institutions, democratic control is indirect therefore. Ministers or representatives are aware of the effect a Council decision may have on the standing of their government: they know that they will be called on to account in detail, to colleagues in government and to national parliament and public opinion, for their performance in championing their member states'' perceived interests.
Because of the fact that politics still mainly happens at national level, the democratic accountability of the Council members is indirect. Of course it is true a loyal and vigorous minister may defend in Council the positions developed within his national democratic process, but qualified majority may decide the matter against him. In most cases, all 15 of the ministers are winners in some degree, although the final compromise is unlikely to be ideal from the point of view of any of them. This is in the nature of a system under which member states have agreed to pool some of their sovereign rights, in the expectation of being able to achieve greater overall satisfaction of their aims through acting together.
Until the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam is ratified, the European Parliament can be said to have no more than a weak, albeit genuine, legislative role. In order to broaden EP''s role it was given power under the TEU to set up a temporary committee of inquiry to investigate alleged contravenions or maladministration in the implementation of community law, and has been required to appoint an Ombudsman to receiveand enquire into complaints of maladministration in the activities of EC institutions or bodies. But both of the two powers have exceptions.
|
