Central to all democratic systems is the ability of citizens to choose who holds executive power. To reduce the democratic-deficit in the EU, therefore, the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties give the European Parliament (EP) a vote on the European Council nominee for Commission President. The...

The notion of 'Administrative Authority' has several dimensions in EU law. From a functional perspective, administrative authority may be exercised according to three patterns: indirect administration by member states' governmental institutions - the typical Community pattern - direct...

This article provides a normative assessment of parliamentary representation in fields of differentiated integration in the European Union. Based on three criteria of legitimate democratic representation, autonomy, accountability and equality, we evaluate four alternative representation models....

The theme of this review is the democratic deficit in the institutional structures of the European Union with a case study of the European Parliament. I introduce the necessary notions of legitimacy, democracy, democratic deficit and present the arguments of some of the theorists in field....

This paper analyses the prominence, content and justifications of Euroscepticism as a form of EU legitimacy contestation. Support of and opposition to European integration have so far been mainly measured through the positions of political parties or citizens’ attitudes through public opinion...

The volume presents pragmatic ways of action of parties in European Parliament. There are addressing issues such as the importance of political parties, the formation of political parties and parliamentary groups in the European Parliament, European elections impact on the action of parties in...

As the opening of the new world changed assumptions on the old world, the same way “new continent” began to change attitudes on the creation of wealth nations and human efforts. The impetus for exploration came also from a desire to accomplish new business. Once again, brave and curious...

Abstract Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament tend to use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party-political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the Council....

Die Frage nach der Existenz eines bereits vorhandenen oder die Chance für ein genuines europäisches Parteiensystem steht im Mittelpunkt dieses Arbeitsberichtes. Ausgegangen wird von einem Policy-orientierten Ansatz, der postuliert, daß zum Zustandekommen eines europäischen Parteiensystems...