III - Democracy

Summary

One of the major aims of the Lisbon Treaty, as set out explicitly in its very short Preamble, is to enhance the ‘democratic legitimacy of the Union’. This has been a leitmotiv since the 1993 Maastricht IGC Declaration no. 13, the 1997 Amsterdam Protocol no. 9 on the role of national parliaments in the EU, the 2000 Nice Declaration (see Box 3), which stressed the importance of giving a role to national parliaments, and the 2001 Declaration of Laeken, which insisted on ‘the democratic challenge facing Europe’ (Box 20).

For the first time, the Lisbon Treaty incorporates in the basic Treaties, right at the beginning of the TEU, a section entitled ‘Provisions on democratic principles’ (Articles 9 to 12), in which Article 10 is particularly relevant (Box 21).

Box 20. THE DECLARATION ON THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (LAEKEN, DECEMBER 2001)

The European Union derives its legitimacy from the democratic values it projects, the aims it pursues and the powers and instruments it possesses. However, the European project also derives its legitimacy from democratic, transparent and efficient institutions. The national parliaments also contribute towards the legitimacy of the European project. The declaration on the future of the Union, annexed to the Treaty of Nice, stressed the need to examine their role in European integration. More generally, the question arises as to what initiatives we can take to develop a European public area.

The first question is thus how we can increase the democratic legitimacy and transparency of the present institutions, a question which is valid for the three institutions. […]