EU-wide referendum needed to boost democracy

MUCH of the commentary that has followed the no vote has concentrated on the challenge that confronts the Taoiseach Brian Cowen as he faces into a European Council meeting tomorrow.

It is to be hoped that a sense of European solidarity, so frequently referred to during the referendum campaign, will be in evidence when he meets his EU colleagues to discuss the way forward. The EU’s ‘legitimacy’ problems did not begin with the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, which is symptomatic of a wider and more enduring problem within the union.

As its areas of competence expand, it is essential that EU institutions are not seen to have “authority without popular consent”.

If this issue is not addressed by member states, it will undoubtedly prove a fatal flaw in what is otherwise a very successful, ambitious and innovative transnational political project designed to respond to the challenges of the 21st century. The urgent political need to generate much greater levels of popular support for the process of European integration clearly requires an EU-wide response. No individual member state should be held responsible for ‘failing to deliver’ the support of its electorate.

The tendency of the political classes to rely almost exclusively on processes of parliamentary ratification to facilitate further EU integration needs to be re-evaluated as, over time, it can only serve to deepen a sense of public alienation from the project.

In the wake of the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, my colleagues in the European Green Party have made an innovative proposal. They have called for a short, clear and focused ‘European Act for Democracy’ which they believe would deal with the real priorities for European citizens at this stage in the process of European integration.

The act would include the charter of fundamental rights, more democratic and representative decision-making processes, including a stronger role for the European Parliament and national parliaments, and innovative ways of involving citizens in EU politics and governance, including measures like the citizens’ initiative. My colleagues have suggested that this European Act for Democracy should be put to all EU citizens in an EU-wide referendum held on the same day as the European Parliament elections next year.

They see this act as the best way of regaining the trust of the people of the EU and enabling the union really to make a positive difference to citizens’ lives.

I hope this is the kind of creative solution to the current political impasse that EU leaders will be discussing with Taoiseach Brian Cowen when they meet him tomorrow.

Senator Deirdre de Búrca

6 Eglinton Road

Bray

Co Wicklow