The Lisbon Treaty

Improved Essays
The European Union has always been recognized as suffering from democratic deficit and the standard of the European Union has been a controversial issue since the early 1990s. Therefore, Lisbon Treaty was lately implemented in order to improve the Union’s democracy. However, it is arguable that whether the Lisbon Treaty is effective enough to tackle the problem of democracy, which will be discussed in the following. In this essay, I will first define what is ‘democratic deficit’ and show the historical development of Lisbon Treaty, hence talking about the significant changes and problems of it. Furthermore, I will make a comparison between the before and after implementation of the Treaty in order to check the effectiveness of such treaty. …show more content…
Another function for the parliament is to make approval on the EU in alliance with the Council . For the European Council, despite the fact that it is not the main role without any new power, the Lisbon Treaty still recognizes it as an EU institution. After the Treaty was enforced, the European Council is directed by a president which can enhance the European Council’s role as an agenda-setter of the EU . Moving on to the Council of the EU, notwithstanding the alteration in regard to the majority voting and the making of decisions, they did not provide adequate and compelling remedies towards the control of the democratic decision making by a constitutional organ. Furthermore, it is important to know that only European Commission is capable to draft legislative proposals, which leads to a ‘democratic deficit’ problem towards the drafting as Lisbon Treaty did not propose any key alteration towards the ‘democratic deficit’ as to the Commission’s structure, functioning or powers …show more content…
The Council has a significant change on the amendment of qualified majority voting (QMV), hence laws can be develop more easily without the unanimity consensus. Also, after abrogating the three-pillar structure of the EU, the QMV has to deal with the decisions on justice and home affairs policy. Gaining legal personality is another change after the Lisbon Treaty as EU is now able to sign up the European Convention on Human Rights. Despite the changes, the Lisbon Treaty set up a scope for the EU and members States to comply with on what they are responsible for and

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Xlandia Government Essay

    • 2008 Words
    • 9 Pages

    We have received your letter regarding our assignment for “Preliminary Recommendations.” Since you no longer have a dictatorship and need a new system of government, we are providing you with a guide of multiple options that can best suit your government. We have thoroughly researched Xlandia as well as its’ past experiences with government. We have delved into the people of Xlandia, their ethnicities and religions, as well as the economy, the jobs and the population. We are knowledgeable of the past dictatorship and its’ political and economic conditions.…

    • 2008 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A strong democracy is essential for a state’s freedoms, liberties, and its well being. In order to obtain these notions, a democracy must receive legitimacy from the people. Legitimacy is the concept in which the people believe and give their consent to the government for its right to rule. A democracy functions accordingly to people’s will, and legitimacy will only fortify a democracy as the people will be allowed to judge and express opinions to make final decisions regarding the status of government officials and their privilege to hold power and rule over the state and citizens. As a first time democracy, Xlandia can begin to build legitimacy as it “binds itself to the rule of law.”…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Treaty Of Paris Dbq

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The Treaty of Paris was the official document that ended the Revolutionary War. The treaty was made between the American and the British government, it detailed what to do with the land that England owned. It was decided that the the thirteen colonies belonged to America, the Americans also owned the land that stretched west to the border of the Pacific ocean. The treaty was signed in France hence it’s name. It was made by three men, John Adams, Ben Franklin and John Jay.…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United Kingdom is referred to having an unwritten constitution, but that is not strictly true. This may not refer in one single text, such as Germany or USA, but large parts are written down with much of it in the laws passed in parliament, these are called constitutional statue. According to Lord Justice Laws in the case Thoburn v Sunderland City Council this is an act witch either the conditions the legal relationship between the individual and the state in some way or enlarges or diminishes the scope of fundamental constitutional rights. Examples of constitutional statue are; Magna Carta 1297 , The Bill Of Rights 1689 and The Human Rights Act 1998 . Parliament sovereignty is one the core principles in the United Kingdom constitution.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Greek War of Independence led Greece to become an independent state from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 1830. However, after the separation, the country underwent economic difficulties and government corruption. Though Greece has made great strides in reforming their political institutions and combating corruption in the last 185 years, there are still clear signs that problems are very much prevalent in today’s society. On the other hand, the northern European country Denmark greatly differs from Greece. For starters, Denmark did not have to gain its independence since it was never dependent on another nation.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Once Spain was driven out by the force of the U.S. military and navy, negotiations for a treaty ensued. Terms were discussed and it was decided that Spain would hand over not only Cuba and the Philippines, but Guam and Puerto Rico as well (Crucible). The Treaty of Paris was sent to the Senate for at least a two thirds ratification. The debate that surrounded this vote is central in American foreign policy, even today. Should the United States become an imperial power, aiming to establish an empire?…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When discussing and analyzing Latin America as a region, we must understand the environment in which the region started and the journey it has taken to get to where it is. There are many questions that need to be addressed while we look in-depth into the developing regions democratic problems, questions like; What is democracy? What effect did Caudillo rule have on Latin American democracy? What is the significance of the transition between neoliberalism and neostructuralism in the region? Once we are able to answer these underlying questions we are then able to fully guide our attention towards understanding the significant question of why delegative democracy has flourished and the direct consequences it causes upon Latin American nations.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    (2003). La solution au ‘déficit démocratique' : une nouvelle gouvernance pour l'Union Européenne ? [The solution to the ‘democratic deficit': a new type of governance for the European Union?] [Electronic version]. Journal of European Integration, 25(2), 131-150.…

    • 2829 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Senate Roles

    • 1764 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Senate’s main roles are to initiate and make legislation, be a house of review and act as a states’ house. The Senate is able to initiate bills and pass legislation that has been passed by the House of Representatives. However, they cannot propose money bills, unlike the lower house. The Constitution positions the Senate to provide equal representation for each state, regardless of the size or population of the state. This is to maintain confidence and assurance that parliament is impartial and not biased in representation or power.…

    • 1764 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Regulatory Agencies

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The independence of regulatory agencies indicates that they can operate without political interference and this ‘independence’ means protection from interference from the political power, particularly from the executive branch through ‘for-cause removal protection’ or through specified terms of tenure with their independence granted by legislation or the Constitution and mechanisms such as collegial membership . For Brown and others: The key characteristic of the independent regulator model is decision-making independence. This means that the regulator’s decisions are made without the prior approval of any government entity, and no entity other than a court or a pre-established appellate panel can overrule the regulator’s decisions. The institutional building blocks for decision making independence are organizational independence (organizationally separate from…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grace Tosi PHL 232-201 Professor Pepe First Short Essay Assignment Analysis of The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy In the first two chapters of Carl Schmitt’s “The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy”, Carl Schmitt shares a lot of information on his views of democracy and parliamentarism (liberal) by comparing them and also showing their differences. Schmitt states that since the early 1800’s individuals believed that in order for Europe to function, the country has to become democratic (Nyierra Golden) and then goes on to explain the essential characteristics of a system that guarantees the rule of law.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Compared to the Presidential system, the Parliamentary system is more favourable to a healthy democracy. This essay will discuss the relationship between the Parliamentary and Presidential systems’ executive and legislative powers and the ways they differ from one another. Within the Parliamentary system, the executive and legislative powers are fused together to set and control the government (Mintz et al. 331-332).…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To protest against Hallstein, de Gaulle recalled all the French ministers from Brussels which resulted in the renowned Empty Chair Crisis. It started from the mid 1965 to January 1966 when European partners came together in Luxembourg. As the Empty Chair Crisis must not continue as without the unanimous support from all six Member States, the EEC could not pass any proposal and was practically in stagnant. Thus, the Member States came into agreement on the summit in Luxembourg which stated that “Where, in the case of decisions which may be taken by majority vote on a proposal of the Commission, very important interests of one or more partners are at stake, the Members of the Council will endeavour, within a reasonable time, to reach solutions which can be adopted by all the Members of the Council while respecting their mutual interests and those of the…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Abstract The European Union of today is the result of a process that began over half a century ago with the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community. From that time, a durable peace has existed in the European continent for about 70 years. As we can see from the remarkable successes of the process of European integration today is significantly affected by the legislative procedures that apply to different policy fields. In fact, there were some thorny issues and crises took place with various reasons, mainly were intergovernmental issues, in the way of integration.…

    • 2859 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Veto Power Of Veto Essay

    • 1042 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For these reasons, many member states have given up on reform proposals, but instead pleading for the permanent member’s restraint on the use of veto. Given the trend of veto uses in the past, there is without a doubt that the veto power is abusive by nature. Moreover, one should be able to concede that with the power of veto in existence, there would be no possibility of a radical reform of the Security…

    • 1042 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays