PHYSICS 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: United States Of Europe, Treaty Of Nice, European Union Legislative Procedure
Document Summary
Claim: the changes introduced by the lisbon treaty were sufficient to ensure the democratic quality of the european union . Claim: emergence of a stable institutional equilibrium/constitutional framework for europe in the last decade (2000; amsterdam & nice. Democratic legitimacy of the eu must be assed in its real-life context as a multi-level political system -> delegation and insulation of competences are widespread trends in modern democracies, also on the national level. There is a symbiotic relationship between national & eu policy- making -> eu simply specialized itself in policy fields involving less direct political participation; delegation of powers & division of labor between national & eu-policy level. Concerns about a european superstate are groundless -> Many procedural/institutional constraints + checks & balances limit the power and autonomy of eu bodies (e. g. requirement of unanimity in the council & national ratification for treaty amendments)
