The legislative organization of the European Parliament (EP) has far-reaching implications for its ability to solve the democratic deficit problem of the European Union (EU). Recognizing that, this article reviews the literature on the EP organization with a view to consolidating existing...

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 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 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...

Most current debate about the democratic deficit equates democracy with party government and popular direction of policy (popular sovereignty). Alternative conceptions of democracy, pluralist or veto-group liberalism, are more consistent with European political and social circumstances and with...

This paper compares legislative dynamics under all procedures in which the Council of Ministers votes by qualified majority (QMV). We make five major points. First, the EU governments have sought to reduce the democratic deficit by increasing the powers of the European Parliament since 1987,...

The member states of the European Union have given up sovereignty in quite a number of policy areas and subjected themselves to joint decisionmaking at the European level. Policy instruments are no longer available nationally in many policy areas, including monetary policy, trade policy, the...

The paper deals with the effects of migration resulting from EU Eastern enlargement on the welfare states of Western Europe. Although migration is good in principle, as it yields gains from trade and specialization for all countries involved, it does so only if it meets with flexible labour...

The member states of the European Union have given up sovereignty in quite a number of policy areas and subjected themselves to joint decisionmaking at the European level. Policy instruments are no longer available nationally in many policy areas, including monetary policy, trade policy, the...

The rising numbers of people willing to risk their lives in illegally crossing land, air or sea borders into the European Union has brought this aspect of migration into the limelight in the last few years. There is a lot more to be discussed in this context, except for the obvious shock and...