THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

IMPROVING THE DEMOCRATIC FOUNDATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: BRINGING THE EUROPEAN UNION CLOSER TO ITS CITIZENS 21 ropean Parliament but did not receive sufficient support in 2018, due to concerns about the different status of members of parliament (Díaz Crego, 2021). Each European political party’s transnational list would be headed by a lead candidate, who could cam- paign and be voted for in all Member states. The list and the candidate would defend a single programme in all Member states, which would add a European federal di- mension to the election, promoting Europe-wide debate about different political options. It would help citizens to be aware of the scope of European politics and debate, and to move away from the notion of European elections as second-rank national elections. Lists would not require Treaty reform but could instead be implemented via re- form of the Electoral Law of the European Parliament. Our next proposal advocates reform of the Elec- toral Law of the European Parliament, as the lack of a uniform electoral law means that election to the Par- liament is conducted in accordance with 27 national laws under conditions that differ from state to state, meaning that there is no equality between citizens in the process (Lehman, 2014). We saw that equal partic- ipation was one of Dahl’s requirements if a system is to be deemed democratic. We are aware that the difficul- ties in achieving consensus within the Parliament and the Council have prevented previous proposals from prospering (Alonso de León, 2019). However, we think it is essential to make progress in deepening shared aspects such as the size of electoral districts, voting age and minimum age of candidates, election requirements, nomination procedures etc. All that is required to do this is greater political will to achieve consensus in the Parliament and the Council. Finally, we believe that another important step to- wards the democratisation of the European political model is to reduce the duration of the Multiannual Fi- nancial Framework to five years and bring it into synch with the parliamentary political cycle, something that is permitted by the wording of article 312 TFEU. This meas- ure would enable a newly elected Parliament and the Commission emerging from it to work with the European Council to design European policies in accordance with the votes of citizens. This would be an important step towards showing that votes decide on European policy. Proposals to strengthen/improve European political debate inMember states We reflected above on the democratic deficit revealed by the fact that, in Member states, there is no political debate or control over the actions of national govern- ment in the European Council and Council of the EU. Barnier warns of the dangers of the weakness of public European debate where nothing is either explained or assumed (2021: 19). Without public debate, knowledge of European politics or accountability, we cannot talk of democracy at the European level. And in so far as the European Council and Council of the EU are the other axis of European democracy, we should also focus on improving their political practices.As article 10 states, the members of these institutions are answerable to their na- tional parliaments and electorates for the decisions taken at EU level. Despite this, we recognize that in states such as Spain, debate of European politics and the decisions taken in European institutions is non-existent. To democratise the European political system, it is vital to ensure that there is debate and accountability at the national level too.We therefore believe that the con- ference should propose that national parliaments dedi- cate at least two sessions per year to discussing European politics, where the head of government, supported by a commissioner, could set out and discuss the principal political issues of the six-month period with members of the national parliament. This would also strengthen the notion that national parliaments form part of European political action, and have equal legitimacy to debate and control the overall political direction. Moreover, in so far as the press tends to follow na- tional bodies more closely, this would provide an addi- tional opportunity for the media to reflect the key issues on the European table. It would be an opportunity both