European Union - Democratization
- Democratic Citizenship
Vienna, 22 April 1999/P/K/16448c-is
In a report prepared within the framework of the
research project "European Studies for Democratic Citizenship," Dr.
Hans Koechler, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and
President of the International Progress Organization, called for democratization of the
European Union on the basis of the requirements of democratic citizenship and
participatory democracy. The report deals with (a) the concept of citizenship in the
European "constitutional" system, (b) the Treaty of European Union (Maastricht
Treaty in the recent version of the Treaty of Amsterdam) and its implications for
democratic citizenship, and (c) the requirements of democratization on the European level.
The report proposes, among others, the following measures of
democratization on the level of the European Union:
- A further strengthening of the role and competencies of the European Parliament in an
elaborate system of checks and balances as required by the rule of law. Instead of
defining its role as a merely reactive body, the member states should give it the
competencies and controlling powers of a real legislature.
- The strengthening of the Parliament should include a new framework for elections to the
European Parliament on a pan-European, not a nation-state basis. This would imply the
reconstitution of political parties as competitors at the supranational European level.
- The principle of subsidiarity, solemnly confirmed by the Treaty on European Union,
should be taken seriously and implemented at all levels and in all fields of
decision-making.
- This measure should be accompanied by the gradual building of a "pan-European
public space" consisting of political organizations, citizens’ movements etc.
with a universal European outlook (to complement the political articulation of the
citizens’ will on the level of the nation-states). The Council of Europe, through its
traditional pan-European outlook and mission, may play a special role in this regard.
- The right of information, an individual and collective right of the citizens of
the Union vis-à-vis the Council and the Commission, should be strengthened and
constitutionally guaranteed. Democratic participation is meaningless without unhindered
access to the relevant facts.
- For decisions on basic constitutional matters of the European Union (to be properly
defined in an amendment to the Treaty on European Union) the instrument of European
referendum should be established. In the age of computer technology that has brought
about an "information revolution" there should be no insurmountable obstacles to
such an undertaking. Only such a basic reform will advance the concept of democratic
citizenship in the direction of establishing a direct political link between the Union and
its citizens.
The report states that such measures of reform, as vaguely defined as
they may be at the present stage, may provide the basis for democratic citizenship at the
European level – in conformity with the declaration of the Treaty on European Union
(Art. 6, Par. 1): "The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy,
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law ..." The
European Union has to be developed towards an open and democratic community which is based
on co-operation among sovereign member states on an equal basis and on the participation
of the citizens, the holders of the sovereignty of the member states, both in the national
and transnational context. Only this will help to strengthen the hitherto "fragile
legitimacy" of a supranational organization that ultimately aspires to build a
federal system of Europe in which the citizens enjoy their basic rights beyond the
confines of the European nation-state.
See the abridged
online
version of the text. The full text of the report may be ordered from the International Progress Organization.
END/EUROPEAN UNION/22-04-99/16448c-is