Brussels, 02/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - In parallel to the many contributions at the European Convention, British Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, MEP, puts forward suggestions with a view to improving parliamentary democracy within the EU in his essay entitled: "Restoring Legitimacy: Parliaments and the EU" to be published during August by the Federal Trust in the series "European Governance - Views from the UK".
Nick Clegg believes that politics remains a "distinctly domestic sport". He states that political careers are still made and broken through national or local political activity, and that political aspirations are a factor that strengthens the EU legitimacy crisis and accentuates the impression that the European institutions are distant with an architecture that is obscure and complex. In his view, "democratic engagement in the EU cannot be invented from above (…). It must be forged by the domestic political figures and institutions with whom voters, (…), feel they can most easily identify". Among the suggestions of reform, Mr Clegg uses that of a permanent presence, in Brussels, of ministers of Deputy Prime Ministerial status, who would be directly accountable to their national parliaments. Furthermore, while acknowledging the fact that this proposal is "controversial", and that its greatest disadvantage is that it could undermine the stability of the composition of the European Parliament, Mr Clegg wonders whether the time has not come to elect MEPs in each Member State at the same time as national elections take place, which would allow voters to give their opinion on the parties at the same time at national and European level. This, he hopes, would necessarily raise the level of the debate by forcing parties to explain how their national and European agendas may function in a consistent manner, and would significantly increase electoral turn-out. Mr Clegg admits that this could pose insurmountable problems. He cites, however, a precedent although at a more limited level, that of the Bundesrat which is formed of elected members in the German Länder during different elections.
"It is dangerous" and "condescending since it assumes that European voters can somehow be enticed into loving the EU if a sufficient number of attractive initiatives are hurled at them from EU institutions", insists Mr Clegg, who regrets "policy activism" that consists in calling for an EU presence in fields that come under national or local policies (culture, tourism, social policy and youth in particular), which are considered more visible and therefore closer to the concerns of the people. In his view, the EU would have nothing to gain in such a limited approach.