Challenges Of The European Union Essay

The main challenges for the EU right now are the enlargement issue, the economic crisis, the rise of the far-right wing which are all inter-connected with each other, the democratic deficit.

Firstly, the European Union is a complex and unique organisation, not a state and not a federation, which makes it quite hard to grasp how all the European countries work together. National parliaments have less power since European decisions are made by the Commission and national ministers in the Council. The European Parliament is too weak. Their role is to debate and ultimately pass laws as well as the EU budget but the Council is the one that dominates the discussion. There is no "European elections": European citizens do not "vote on EU policies except in periodic referendums on EU membership or treaty reforms" and European Parliament elections are regarded as "mid-term polls on the performance of national governments and parties by the media and national parties."

The media hardly covers what is being discussed. Since European citizens only vote in referendums on EU membership or treaty reforms, the system of the appointment of the Commission, and the European legislative procedure remain a mystery (unless one makes the effort of looking into it). There is a policy drift since "the EU adopt policies that are not supported by a majority of citizens in many (or even most Member States)." 1 All in all, there is a lack of "European identity". Most European citizens are first and foremost from the country they were born and they hardly think about being European. In fact, people from outside the EU are more intrigued by the European Union and willing to understand the concept than most people from within [the EU] are. That being said, "the union is currently making attempts to increase the democratic character of the European