The Lisbon treaty grants a new right to European citizens : the possibility to take part in legislative propositions. Could this be the answer to a lack of democracy in the community?
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The Lisbon treaty grants a new right to European citizens : the possibility to take part in legislative propositions. Could this be the answer to a lack of democracy in the community?
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Citizens’ initiative widens gap between the EU and its inhabitants ‘The Citizens initiative will introduce a whole new form of participatory democracy to the EU,’ said Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration. That is a whole lot of words for a proposal in its developing state. Whoever takes a closer look at...
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By Michael Huguenin, Piers d’Orgee and Steffen Windfeld-Hansen The European Citizens’ Initiative is in its final stages of development, but negotiations over fine details continue to draw out the process. European politicians continue to squabble over how the ECI is to be conducted. The general concept is still considered to be a huge improvement...
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by Anna Buch, Ana Muñoz Padrós, Beatriz Paúl Naya, Anna Rydholm When the president of the European Comission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, mounted the platform to hold the first speech of the State of the Union, expectations were low. Not without reason, afterwards the speech was criticized for being dull – a mere shopping...
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Mats Persson, 30 years old, is research director for Open Europe, an independent think tank. Behind it are UK’s leading business people who want to show an alternative direction for European integration. The principles of reform: economic liberalization, a looser and more flexible structure, real powers over EU legislation for national governments and decision...
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A victory for transparency or a disaster for democratic legitimacy and public trust in the EU? The opinions about how the Lisbon treaty affects the openness in the Union are in massive variance among officials, experts and journalists. “The Union definitely gets more transparent now. For the first time in an EU treaty the...
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The Lisbon Treaty has been good to the Parliament. The legislative power of the parliament has increased under the new Lisbon Treaty. Since the European Parliament is the only directly chosen EU institution, the ‘people’ also have increased their power.
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The representatives from France, Germany and Spain have won the most important jobs in the European Commission. After the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty about a month ago and the nomination of the president of the Council and the High Representative, Commission president Jose Manuel Barosso could start with the nomination of the new...
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After the lenghty proces of ratification the Lisbon Treaty has come into effect by December 1. Since the last obstacles were cleared away with Czech Republic’s eurosceptic president’s reluctant signature less than a month ago, things have moved quickly. Less than two weeks after they were appointed Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton have taken office...
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