The State of the European Union. The European Parliament faces its most important elections yet

THE DIFFICULT ROAD TOWARDS A NECESSARY EUROPEAN FEDERAL UNION 61 normally produce a very poor result. It is also a very slow procedure as, except for extraordinary meetings, the European Council gathers every six months and they frequently have to put back decisions to one or two meetings down the line. The Council of the EU is also in need of re- forms that make it more agile and effective in its mission. Firstly, the different groups should be able to choose their own president for a period of two-and-a-half years, extendable to another period, thereby eliminating the rotating presi- dency, which could become a rotating secre- tariat, if necessary. It might also be a good idea, on the other hand, for the Eurogroup to be given official status as a permanent formation in the treaties, while taking into consideration its relationship with the Ecofin. And, most impor- tantly, it is necessary to review the matters that have to be decided unanimously to reduce them to a minimum, that is to say, matters such as the accession of new members or the signing of in- ternational treaties or certain CFSP matters that might affect the sovereignty of member states. The rest – including tax issues and harmonisation of certain laws – could be decided by qualified majority. It is a matter of avoiding, within reason, a member state being able to obstruct the intro- duction of measures that benefit the whole. The drift over the last few years towards the intergovernmental method over the community one has harmed the functioning of the institu- tional framework, eroded democracy and trans- parency and played a large part in causing the disaffection with the Union that has touched broad sections of the population. It is necessary, therefore, to strengthen the Union method, de- fine its competences, give more power to the truly community institutions, in pursuit of a guarantee of equality, and express it clearly in the Treaties to prevent distortions and mistakes in the future. The Community institutions: the European Parliament and the European Commission Along with the member states, the second source of the EU’s legitimacy are its citizens, who are represented in the political architecture of the Union by two institutions that arise from the European people, either directly by universal suffrage – the European Parliament –, or indi- rectly (through the European Parliament) – the European Commission. The functions of both and the interaction between them comprise the community method, in contrast with the inter- governmental method of the Council and the European Council. The competences of both have increased enormously since their creation through the successive treaties. The European Parliament has gone from being merely consul- tative to having power of codecision on most matters and the European Commission has grown in size, competences and legislative and administrative capability. However, they still have a long way to go if we are thinking about a structure of a federal nature, in which citizens feel truly represented, capable of taking trans- parent, democratic and equitable decisions. This year, when a new European Parliament is being elected, is a good time to look at why European citizens express their lack of interest with very low turnouts, particularly in some countries. The elections to the European Parliament are too nationalised, they are carried out in each country under different systems, even on different dates. The political parties in each country consistently use them again to set- tle their internal disputes at a national level and the last thing they talk about is Europe. It is dif- ficult, then, for voters to become aware of what they are voting for and its importance. If they took place throughout the Union on the same day and under the same system, even if they