Sunday, 2 August 2020

UK versus EU democracy



On 20 July 2020, British MPs voted by a majority not to have any say or votes on future UK trade agreements. 

Can you think of any other professions where you could vote not to do your job but still be paid for it?

 Postmen and women voting not to deliver letters? Train drivers voting not to drive trains? Doctors voting not to treat patients?

 Or indeed, politicians in the European Parliament voting to give up any say or votes on EU trade deals?

 Inconceivable.

 All European Union trade agreements must be scrutinised, debated and democratically passed, or rejected, by elected MEPs.

 That’s what they are there for on behalf of their constituents, the citizens across Europe.
If MEPs voted not to do their job, there would be uproar.
Just as there should be uproar in the UK now that our MPs have voted to discard their duties on behalf of us, their constituents across the UK, by deciding to have no say or votes on the country’s future trade agreements.
But then just look at the parlous state of democracy in the UK, in which:
  • Our UK Parliament has 1,458 members – 808 of them unelected (on 31 July 2020, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, appointed 36 new legislators to the House of Lords – one of them, his brother Jo).
  • We have an unelected head of state (who has no real power to intervene on important issues).
  • We have an old-fashioned voting system of first-past-the-post (for the European Parliament, voting is by proportional representation).
  • We have governments that can bypass Parliament with the use – and abuse – of arcane and ancient Royal Prerogatives and Henry VIII clauses.
  • We have a legislative system whereby most laws are made by Statutory Instruments, drafted by the Civil Service, which cannot be amended by Parliament and most of which become law automatically, without a Parliamentary vote.
  • We have a Prime Minister who could (until it was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court) close down Parliament for an extended period at his will and without Parliamentary approval.
  • We had a referendum in which two out of the four members of the United Kingdom voted no to Brexit, but we’ve gone ahead with it anyway.
None of these undemocratic situations could occur in the EU.
But how many people truly know that the EU is a democracy?
For years, Brexit politicians and papers have been selling us the blatant lie that the EU is run by unelected bureaucrats.
Let me take this opportunity to explain why that is not the case.

▪ EU MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

In the EU, democratic governance is the number one requirement of European Union membership.
In 1962, the year after Britain first applied to join the EEC, Spain also applied.
The country was then governed by authoritarian dictator, Francisco Franco. Spain’s membership application was flatly and unanimously rejected by all members of the European Community.
The reason? Because Spain wasn’t a democracy.
Indeed, if the UK was applying to join the EU now, recent events could present questions over the validity of our application and whether our democratic governance is currently robust enough.
Remember, the Tories are committed to scrapping our Human Rights Act and they oppose the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the recent past, the Tory government has also threatened to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
That would likely bar us from joining the EU, where a commitment to human rights is also a strict membership requirement.
Before becoming a member of the EU, an applicant country must demonstrate that it has a stable government guaranteeing:
  • Democracy
  • The rule of law
  • Human rights
  • Respect for and protection of minorities
  • The existence of a functioning market economy
  • The capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union
Most countries that applied to join the EU did not meet these strict membership requirements and so they needed many years to prepare for the process before their application could be accepted.

▪ EU MEMBERS

Contrary to what many people in Britain understand, the EU is a democracy, democratically run by its members.
These comprise the democratically elected governments and Parliaments of EU member states, alongside the directly elected European Parliament.
All the treaties of the EU, upon which all EU laws must be compatible, and any new countries applying to join the EU, must be unanimously and democratically agreed by all the national parliaments of every EU member state, however large or small.
In some EU countries, according to their national constitutions, agreement must also be obtained by regional parliaments and national referendums.
All the EEC/EU treaties since Britain joined the EU 47 years ago were fully debated and democratically passed by our Parliament in Westminster.
Not once were any changes to our EU membership imposed upon us, and neither could they be, as the EU is a democracy.
In addition, every EU country has a veto on any treaty changes or any new country joining.
(Compare that to our referendum of 2016, when Scotland and Northern Ireland voted against Brexit, but it made no difference.)

▪ THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

The European Parliament is the EU’s law-making body, alongside the EU Council, which comprises the departmental ministers of democratically elected governments of every EU country.
The Parliament is directly elected every five years by citizens in all EU countries. The latest European elections were held in May 2019.
There are 705 MEPs (we used to have 73 MEPs from the UK representing us in Europe; alas, no more)
Each European country is proportionally represented in the Parliament according to their size of population.
EU laws can only be passed by the European Parliament in concert with the EU Council (also called the Council of Ministers).
The Council of Ministers shares law making and budgetary powers with the European Parliament. When voting on proposed EU laws, its meetings must be public.
Alongside the Council, the European Parliament has the democratic power to accept, amend or reject proposed laws and regulations.
According to extensive research by VoteWatch Europe, over 97% of adopted EU laws in the 12 years to 2016 were supported by the UK.
There are proposals to give the European Parliament new powers to directly initiate legislation, as well as to vote on it.

▪ THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The European Commission is the servant of the EU, and not its master. Ultimately, the Commission is beholden to the European Parliament, and not the other way around.
The Commission President must be elected by an absolute majority of all MEPs (i.e. over 50% of them).
Indeed, Ursula von der Leyen could only become Commission President with the democratic backing of over half of all MEPs.
Each Commissioner must also be democratically approved by the European Parliament in a strict vetting process. The Parliament has the democratic power to reject candidate Commissioners – as it did last autumn.
The Parliament also has the democratic power to sack the entire Commission at any time during its five-year tenure.
The Commission is responsible for implementing the democratic decisions of the EU, upholding and enforcing democratically passed EU laws and treaties, and managing the day-to-business of the EU.
The Commission also proposes new laws, but they only do this in close collaboration with the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, as only the Parliament and Council can pass laws.
The Commission has zero power to pass any laws.
Before the Commission proposes new laws, it prepares ‘Impact Assessments’ which set out the advantages and disadvantages of possible policy options.
The Commission then consults interested parties such as non-governmental organisations, local authorities and representatives of industry and civil society. Groups of experts also give advice on technical issues.
In this way, the Commission ensures that legislative proposals correspond to the needs of those most concerned and avoids unnecessary red tape.
Citizens, businesses and organisations also participate in the consultation procedure. National parliaments can also formally express their reservations if they feel that it would be better to deal with an issue at national rather than EU level.

▪ THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

The European Council consists of the democratically elected leaders of each EU country – their Prime Ministers and Presidents. It is the EU’s supreme political authority.
The Council does not negotiate or adopt EU laws, but it does democratically set the political goals and priorities of the European Union, including the policy agenda of the Commission.
The Council also democratically chooses candidates for the post of Commission President, which the European Parliament must then elect with an absolute majority of MEPs.
The Council President reports to the European Parliament.

▪ UK MEMBERSHIP OF THE EU

During our membership, Britain democratically helped to run and rule the EU, and not the other way around. Whatever the EU is and has become, Britain helped to create it.
Indeed, the EU can become whatever all its members unanimously agree it can become. But of course, that only applies to EU members, and not to ex-members.
Outside of the EU, Britain can only watch as democratic decisions about the running and future direction of our continent are decided without us, even though those decisions will affect us just as much, whether we are a member or not.
Leaving the EU has meant a loss of sovereignty. We no longer have any democratic representation on our continent.
And now, Brexit has directly led to us having less democratic representation in our country.
  • 3-minute video: How Tory MPs voted to give up scrutiny of new UK trade deals

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Other articles by Jon Danzig:
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