Suchergebnisse

Call for Abstracts for an Early Career Workshop in Hamburg on November 23–24, 2023. Deadline: July 14, 2023

The responsiveness of governments to the preferences of their citizens is a fundamental characteristic of democracy. With the rapid and seemingly unstoppable integration of the European Union, many citizens doubt whether their governments still can be responsive—while trust in the EU has been faltering at the same time. In 2015, only 33 % of Europeans trusted the EU, while over 54 % of Europeans distrusted it. In 2008, fully 62 % of Europeans did not believe that their governments listened to them when it came to European issues, and those who perceive themselves to be voiceless on that matter have remained the majority as of 2017. Europeans believe that governments do not act in their citizens' interest when they decide (usually behind closed doors) over policies in the EU. Despite these bleak numbers, this contribution argues that there are reasons to be both more optimistic and pessimistic at the same time.

Ensuring the integrity of elections is a foundational concern for any democratic state. Yet, it faces a grave challenge in Poland, emanating from the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court. Created in 2018 following controversial changes to the national judicial system and tasked with reviewing the validity of parliamentary elections, the Chamber fails to meet the essential criteria of an independent court. Confirmed by rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court itself, the Chamber's flawed origin and staffing, dependent on political influence and in departure from established rules of law, undermines its capacity to authenticate the fairness and legitimacy of elections. This echoes beyond Poland's borders as well, since the Chamber's defective status fails to meet European standards of effective judicial protection, thus raising concerns in the context of European integration. This blog delves into the Chamber's position, examines its role in validating electoral process and its impact on the democratic legitimacy of Poland's Parliament.

Das Lehrprojekt "Wie demokratisch ist die EU?" wird jährlich als Kooperation der Universitäten Magdeburg, Passau und Bonn angeboten. Es befähigt Studierende zur kritischen Reflexion der These vom Demokratiedefizit der EU, indem sie diese aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven beleuchten, und zur Durchführung eines ersten Forschungsprojekts, in dem sie eine der Thesen in einer Fallstudie empirisch überprüfen. Durch die zielgerichtete Integration von Online-Tools in die Präsenzlehre werden europaweit Studierende unterschiedlicher Universitäten und im Rahmen des "Online Round Table on European Democracy " mit Entscheidungstragenden und Expert*innen zusammengebracht.

While the citizens of most EU Member States enjoy visa-free travel to the US, citizens of Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus do not. Following the Commission's repeated refusal to activate the reciprocity mechanism in EU visa law to remedy this inequality in access to visa-free travel, the European Parliament asked the CJEU whether the Commission was under an obligation to do so. The Court answered in the negative, holding instead that the Commission had wide discretion in this regard. Its reasoning centers the sensitive political nature that visa retaliation vis-á-vis the US implies, while failing to instill a sense of urgency in working towards equal treatment of EU citizens. This threatens to perpetuate a situation in which the advantages of supranational integration in the context of the Schengen acquis are permanently withheld from nationals of Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus.