(Not) a Role Model of Democracy
The current world order has reached a turning point. A new competition of ideas is emerging. Besides the growing religious fundamentalism, the Chinese authoritarianism, that already possesses a significant influence, is one of the major challenges the democracy principle is currently facing. In its series devoted to democracy the former “assault gun” of democracy, the German news magazine “Der Spiegel” anonymously quotes a noted German businessman: “We are not successful because of democracy but despite democracy.”
The thesis that only democracies can have successful economies in the long run has been proven wrong by the Chinese Success. The contest for better arguments has already begun. So how will the European President, who is supposed to be appointed by the EU heads of governments for a period of two and a half years in the future, argue when he/she travels to China and speaks about democracy and human rights? An interesting fact in this respect is that the EU heads of governments themselves are elected by direct universal suffrage almost nowhere in Europe. So what will the European President answer when they ask him/her in Beijing who elected him and with how many votes he/she was elected?
The European Union suffers a considerable democratic deficit. The Lisbon Treaty does not change anything in this respect either. The hermaphrodite function of the Council persists. In the meantime the Governments – the executive bodies of the Member States – act as a legislative power and decide upon the EU legislation in Brussels. The European Parliament, the only institution of the European Union, whose members are elected by direct universal suffrage, has still no right to initiate legislation. Only the officials of the EU-Commission determine what will become an EU law. The Judiciary – the European Court of Justice is not independent either. Politicians from the Member States are sent as judges to Luxemburg. Therefore the separation of powers – the basic principle of the constitutionality in the Member States is being widely neglected.
The competencies of the Member States are being rapidly transferred to Brussels Almost 84% of the legal acts in Germany come from Brussels. All in all 750 regulations and 19.000 directives have been passed. The vague division of the competences opens a door for a possible increase in the EU-competencies and stimulates an inappropriate centralization. This takes place either through the classical so-called “Spiel über die Bande”, “Package Deals” or case law of the European Court of Justice, the so called “Mangold Case” being an spectacular example. The principle of Subsidiarity is being recklessly neglected.
A solution to this problem is an unambiguous competence catalogue, a possibility for the member states to gain their competence in certain political fields back onto the national level as well as the establishing a court for Subsidiary and Competence Matters that is independent from the European Court of Justice.
