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Jo LEINEN

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Rome-Treaty, the process of European Integration is in danger to come to a halt. Citizens, media, academics and politicians alike, criticize the democratic deficit. However, the ratification of the European Constitution, which would have lessened this deficit, is blocked. The referenda in France and the Netherlands as well as the missing public debate on the Future of Europe have shown that the EU is still lacking the democratic infrastructure to conduct a truly pan-European debate. A key role in providing this infrastructure is to be played by European political parties.

One of the main reasons for the EU’s democratic deficit is the missing link between the European institutions and the citizens. On the national level the link between citizens and decision makers as well as the link between political debate and political decisions is provided by political parties. European political parties as a tie between the Union’s citizens and EU policies are hardly developed. Only recently, European political parties have emerged and begun to improve the debate about the challenges for Europe.

European democracy needs strong European political parties

The political system of the Union does not yet stimulate sufficiently pan-European debates. Although the European Parliament, the Commission and some NGO-umbrellas can be seen as supranational actors, the view of citizens on European issues still follows merely the positions of national politicians. National governments use “Brussels” as a scapegoat...