Nevra ESENTÜRK

Democracy in the European Union and the Treaty of Lisbon

ISSN: 2146-0809
Başlangıç: 2002
Yayıncı: Yalova Üniversitesi

Democracy, one of the basic values of Western politics, has undergone a comprehensive developmentprocess still in progress during the course of European integration. Although at the initial phase of theintegration, even no hint of democracy was on the fore, it has become one of the most discussedsubjects in the Union. With the recent development of the Lisbon Treaty, the question of democraticlegitimacy, transparency and efficiency of the EU was put at the center. Thus, it has been given muchmore attention and its credentials have been improved day by day in the EU. However, democracy,which is a very comprehensive subject incorporating several issues related to the EU, such as theprinciples of the EU, the institutional structure, legislative procedures, fundamental rights and theprinciples of subsidiarity and proportionality, despite all this improvement trend in force, is still notsufficient. In this context, in which there still exists “democratic deficit” in the EU, after a briefhistorical background of the issue, the Lisbon Treaty is analyzed in terms of the novelties, advances itbrought to democracy in the EU basically in two parts, namely the democratic principles, and theinstitutional and functional aspects of European democracy in this study. In the light of this analysis, itis aimed to figure out the advantages and limits of the improvement trend in European democracy,which would open the way for further developments in this issue.Key words: democracy in the EU, democratic deficit, the Lisbon Treaty

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