The debates surrounding the European Union’s democratic deficit aren’t recent al all. There are authors who claim the existence of a democratic deficit, as well as other authors who dismantle, one by one, the arguments of the first ones. Through this paper I want to inventory the arguments...

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 aims to analyse the character of the European Commission, which gravitates between supranational and intergovernmental, by presenting the main arguments meant to support the aforementioned positions. Thus, in order to demonstrate the supranational character I used the arguments...

In this article I conduct an institutional analysis on the balance of power existent in the EU, both before the enforcement of the Lisbon Treaty and after. I study the new decisional mechanisms as provided by the treaty, and try to determine the changes in the interactions between institutions,...

Signed on the 13th of December 2007 by all 27 member states, the Treaty of Lisbon will enter into force on the 1st of January 2009. Though, the ratification process was delayed by some members states which asked for some modifications. The ratification process came to an end this year, in...

According to Maastricht Treaty, the purpose of European integration is to create an increasingly close union between European nations, in which the decisions will be taken closely to the citizen. However even the most optimistic supporters of the EU admit that the integration process was mostly...

The European Parliament, this name appears exactly with the European Single Act in 1986. It was called initially Gathering, then European Parliament Gathering. Today, the European Parliament’s competences are considerably multiplied and are some of the most important. Among them are included...

The aim of this paper is to present the impact of the different electoral systems used for the European Parliament on the later functioning of the EP and on the way that it represents the European citizens. Will the homogenization of the electoral system at an European level have as a result a...

The European Parliament is the only actor in the European Union democratically elected. From this point of view, this institution seems to have an important role to play in solving the Union’s democratic deficit. In this paper, I intend to analyze the evolution of the European Parliament and...

The purpose of this study is to approach and to explain the new born office of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, set up by the Lisbon Treaty, recently ratified by all EU members. As a result, the High Representative, member of the European Commission, will have a...