The democratic deficit in the European Union political system

Abstract

European countries suffered from the ravages of war, the most severe of which were the two world wars, the results of which were socially, economically and politically devastating. As a result, the idea of ​​uniting the European continent and bringing it out of a state of division and wars into a space of peace, unity and cooperation returned to the minds of European leaders and thinkers. Therefore, a number of European countries sought to follow the path of economic cooperation as a first step, so they began by establishing the European Economic Community, which went through several stages to later form the European Union, which took the European unity project beyond mere economic cooperation, as its role became economic and political. In order to manage the process of building European unity and achieve the common interest of the Union countries, the European Union established an institutional and organizational structure that formed a political and legal system of a unique nature. It achieved great success in this regard, but in light of the developments that took place in the European Union, which represented the increase of countries that joined the Union, and the increasing role that the European Union played as a supranational entity, many of the powers that were within the jurisdiction of the national state were transferred to it and were waived in favor of its institutions. different. This made the work of the political system in the European Union bureaucratic and lacked democratic momentum, which made it accused of democratic deficit and lack of institutional transparency and democratic standards such as accountability, representation and real participation stipulated in the European Union Treaty. It is the basis for judging the democratic performance of the European Union.