Democratisation versus accountability - should the European Parliament be given more powers?

This paper challenges the assertion that European politics would be closer to the citizens´ preferences if decision power were transferred from the Council of Ministers to the European Parliament. On the one hand, citizens benefit from a greater transparency in the Parliament´s debates compared to the Council´s decisions. On the other hand, a powerful European Parliament would be less accountable to the voters of each state since in the European election each state is only decisive with a small probability.