Tag: democratic deficit

Judges in Bulgaria are sanctioned not when they commit a violation, but when they disobey, writes Ivanka Ivanova.

Hungary is set to become the first EU country to be monitored by the Council of Europe, following recent changes to the country’s constitution. 

Hannes Swoboda, president of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament, called yesterday (16 April) on the European Commission to investigate a wiretapping scandal in Bulgaria.

A world-renowned concert pianist was given a suspended jail sentence in Turkey today (15 April) for insulting religious values on Twitter, a case which has become a cause célèbre for Turks alarmed about creeping Islamic conservatism.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional group, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) expressed concern today (20 February) over what they say is growing political interference at the Ukraine Independent News Agency.  

Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, yesterday (9 January) discussed the strategic vision and mandate of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), a new initiative to foster democracy in the EU’s neighbourhood, and appointed a Polish diplomat as its executive director.

Bulgaria’s highest juridical body is voting tomorrow (20 December) to appoint a new prosecutor general, amid warnings from the European Commission and NGOs over political interference and insufficient democratic safeguards.

Media activists from Russia and the Ukraine called for urgent EU and civil society help to protect press freedom in their counties at a public meeting held in Brussels yesterday (26 November). They proposed establishing an international Pen Centre, holding “mega-forums” and adopting charts, similar to those used in the run-up to the Helsinki process.

The EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed concern yesterday (25 October) over Russia's recent adoption of a Cold War-style law, which could potentially imprison citizens in contact with foreigners for up to 20 years.

A prominent Romanian opposition MEP warned yesterday (12 August) of a looming ‘civil war’ in Romania as the conflict between the leftist ruling coalition and the centre-right president reached new heights, prompting fresh reactions from the European Union EurActiv Romania contributed to this article.

The governing leftist coalition of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has taken additional steps to further tighten its grip on power, despite warnings from the European Commission that the ongoing political infighting cannot justify overriding democratic principles.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble used his acceptance speech when awarded the Charlemagne Prize to detail his future vision of the European Union, arguing for a directly-elected Commission president.

The Ukrainian prosecution will press murder charges against the country’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in two weeks time, Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin, responsible for her case, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

It is absolutely essential to have more coherent, structured, well-framed relations between the EU and Russia, said Thierry de Montbrial, founder and Director General of the French Institute for International Relations IFRI, in an exclusive with EurActiv, on the occasion of Putin's coming inauguration on 7 May for a new mandate as president.

Outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed yesterday (3 April) a new law officially designed to open up the political system to competition, but which according to critics would instead create "chaos". At the same time it became clear that he would not pardon jailed anti-Kremlin tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko will receive treatment for her back problems in a hospital outside the Kharkiv prison where she is presently detained, the country's authorities announced yesterday (2 April).

The European Commission will today (22 March) refer Hungary to the European Court of Justice over its special telecommunications sector tax, as the country's tense relationship with Brussels comes under further pressure. 

Commission President José Manuel Barroso indirectly told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán today (16 March) that he lacks understanding of what democracy is. Barroso responded through a spokesperson to a statement by Orbán, who compared the EU to the USSR.

In what appears as an escalation of tensions between Brussels and Budapest, the European Commission has opened the second stage of two infringement procedures against Hungary for government interference in the judiciary and in the data protection authority. The next step could be a referral to the European Court of Justice.

It is up to member states, not Brussels, to inform citizens about the benefits of the EU and prevent them from being deceived, Stanley Crossick, a political analyst and doyen of EU integration, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

A third of voters who decided not to use their ballot in this summer's European Parliament elections only made their decision in the final days of the election campaign, according to a European Parliament Eurobarometer survey conducted in the month following the June poll.

The European Parliament has become more efficient at the expense of its accessibility to citizens and voters, a European Policy Centre study due to be published soon will reveal.

In an article published in the autumn 2007 issue of Europe's World, Jerzy Baczynski looks at the reality of democracy in the EU's new member states and addresses the 'democratic deficit' issue.

EU whistleblower Paul van Buitenen is the big protest winner of the Dutch European Parliament elections, voters catapulting the Commission rebel to Brussels with two seats.