ABSTRACT
Sophie in ‘t Veld is a Member of the European Parliament. She worries about the steady erosion of European democracy by EU Member States. Not just the ‘problematic’ cases, such as Hungary and Poland, but all Member States. Whatever their disagreements, they agree on the need to have a concentration of power in the European Council. In the process, the independence of the EU Commission is diminished, and the separation of powers at the EU level erased. Democratic accountability for the European Council is non-existent by design, yet this institution is behaving more and more like an EU government. Much is written about a ‘democracy gap’ in the EU, but this gap is often misplaced. As a parliamentarian, in ‘t Veld sees the gap growing at the hands of the European Council. A course-reversal is possible by making the EU truly political – and parliamentary. Without EU politics, European citizens stay disengaged, unwilling to fight for democracy and certainly unwilling to defend it.
