ABSTRACT
The questionnaire was addressed to European Union actors (reporting their experience in the Commission, the Council of the European Union and the Parliament). Its aim was to measure and evaluate the responsibility of the Executive in the European Union since the Treaty of Lisbon. First, the question was whether political responsibility was felt by the actors (and which actors?) and therefore if the European Union system could be compared to a parliamentary system (where the Executive is accountable to Parliament), with a system of checks and balances, or a federal system (where the Executive is accountable to the Member States) or a sui generis system. The second question was whether (and when?) this responsibility was exercised. It was interesting to know whether the strengthening of Parliament’s legislative powers by the Treaty of Lisbon had increased its powers of control. We wondered, for example, whether the investiture of the European Commission and the vote of the budget were high points in the responsibility of the Executive in the European Union, or whether there were still flaws in the responsibility system. Finally, the questionnaire aimed to identify the future of the Executive responsibility in the European Union, based on the work of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The question was how to strengthen the place of democratic control in the European Union: election of the President of the European Council by universal suffrage, or referendum by popular vote? Ultimately, the questionnaire revealed the originality of executive responsibility in the European Union compared to national traditions.
