Bulletin n. 1/2015
June 2015
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Jerónimo Maillo González-Orús
    A new Commission for a new era. Is the parliamentarization of the European Commission the way forward?
    in Perspectives on federalism , vol. 6, issue 3 ,  2014 ,  E76-E101
    This contribution focuses on the need of fostering a European political space and more in particular on the role and the design of the Commission needed to attain that aim. It is submitted that to increase true democracy in the European Union, there is a need of promoting ‘different in nature’ EU politics, more based on cross-national ideological majorities (or alliances) and less on national interests bargaining. The Commission seems to be well-fitted for that purpose and therefore it is at the core of my analysis and my reform proposals. After explaining the so called Commission’s paradox (decline but growing role), the paper contends that, in a new era of closer Economic and Political Union, we need a strengthening and democratization of the European Commission and discusses how to attain it. Firstly, it reviews two relevant recent steps forward: the indirect election of the Commission President in the 2014 European Elections and the new organization of the Juncker’s College. Secondly, it turns to more medium-long term reforms which can reinforce the Commission and its democratization in the future: an intense parliamentarization of the Commission, the creation of pan-European lists for the European elections and the merger of the Presidency of the European Commission and the European Council.
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