The State of the European Union 2017

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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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possibly be introduced in the medium to long
term.
To end, find some of them below:
– Increase the participation of European
citizens in the decision-making process of
the Union through:
• The establishment of systems of direct
ballot by citizens or of referenda on a
European scale with maximum use of
the electronic vote 13 for a certain series
of constitutional issues.
• Increasing the coverage of the system
of public consultation on the part of
the Union prior to the start of any leg-
islative procedure until it covers all leg-
islation. 14
• A reform of the Union’s legislative ini-
tiative procedure, by which popular
legislative initiatives are submitted by
their creators to the Commission and
the Parliament at the same time.
13Electronic voting has already been introduced or is
in the process of being introduced into several States of
the Union. On the subject, see:
botoelek/otros_paises/ve_mundo_est_c.htm
14As of the Lisbon Treaty, around 90 % of European legis-
lation is open to public consultation prior to the European
legislative process. See: Ponzano, P.: Une démocratisation
accrue de l’Union européenne, 2010, p. 5. Available at:
– Provide the European Parliament with
new powers, particularly to increase its
legislative capacity and its power of con-
trol over the Commission and the
Council, including a power of maximum
recall of the members of the Commission
and full powers of co-decision on budget
matters.
– Turn the European Commission into a
true democratic government of the
Union through the establishment of a
transnational citizens’ vote for the elec-
tion of its President.
– Establish a system of maximum transpar-
ency for the decision-making processes
of the Council of the EU and the European
Council.
– Secure, through an upgraded decision-
making system of the Council of the
Union, the most widespread use of the
qualified majority vote.