Colin's Journal

This posting on Gallowglass provides an interesting insight into one of the changes that the proposed constitution introduces. It seems that the number of areas covered (both in theory and in practise) by the co-decision procedure will be increased. Co-decision is where the Council and the Parliament both have to agree on something for it to be adopted, essentially ensuring the the will of the Parliament has to be respected.

Given that the European Parliament is the only democratic element of the EU institutions I’m not sure why Matthew Yglesias thinks this is a bad idea. The major reason that no-one cares about the European elections is because it’s clear that the Parliament doesn’t have any significant power. Ensuring that a majority of the elected representatives and a qualified majority of member states are in agreement seems like a good way of enacting EU legislation to me.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on More on the proposed EU constitution