Monopoly of the initiative

The monopoly of initiative is a right which was conferred on the European commission, and which gives him mandate and obligation to make proposals on the matters contained in the treaty of the European Union, either because this one envisages it expressly, or because it esteem necessary.

It is considered that the Commission has the right to take initiatives in order to fully play its part of guardian of the treated S and the general interest.

Origin of the monopoly of initiative of the Commission

The granting of the monopoly of initiative at the Commission finds its origin in the experiment of the Franco-British bilateral commissions Jean Monnet had, as from December 1939, at the beginning of the Second world war.

For more details, to see it speech made by the president of the European commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, on November 23rd 2004.

Major importance of the monopoly of initiative

The right to take initiatives depends on the Piliers on the European Union:

in the first pillar of the European Communities, it is exclusive because the principle is that the Council only decides “on Commission proposal”, so that any initiative lies within a coherent scope;
in the second and third pillars, it is divided with the Member States in the fields of the foreign Politics and common safety (PESC) like in certain matters concerned with the police and legal Coopération out of penal matter (CPJP).

Even if the Community legislation represents between 60 and 70% of the new legislative texts in a Member State like the France, the initiative of the European commission is relatively weak.

Indeed, the monopoly of swears right to take initiatives of the European commission does not correspond to a monopoly de facto . Actually, the Commission exerts its right to take initiatives in a very reduced percentage of its proposals, which one estimates at 5 to 10%.

In the other cases, the role of the Commission is summarized to transform into legal documents the obligations assumed by the European Community on the international plan (International treaties), to propose “acts which had” under the terms of the treaty or of the derived right, and to give following the requests for legislation emanating from the Council, of the the European Parliament, the Member States and the whole of the Recipients (economic operators, Syndicat S, ONG…).

The very complex process of upstream preparation of the texts and consultation of the Recipients very largely uses the technical of communication by the Internet .

Monopoly of initiative and principle of subsidiarity

The European constitutional treaty draft envisaged a “test of effectiveness” for the intervention of the European Community in the fields which do not concern its exclusive Compétence: thus, the Community, and consequently the Commission at the time of the presentation of its proposal, must justify that the action suggested cannot be realized adequately on the level of the National right, and, therefore, can be realized better at community level.

Discusses

The monopoly of initiative of the European commission is the subject of a controversy. According to Jean-Pierre Chevènement for example, the monopoly of initiative prevents the introduction of a true democratic debate:

“the political paralysis of the democracy was institutionalized: decision-making process complex and opaque which governs the Community institutions, no European General interest can emerge. If one returns to the text of the treaties, it is the Commission which is supposed to define this general interest. But in the name of what a " expertocratie" of could six police chiefs become twenty-five with the wire of widenings, replace the democratic debate? The monopoly of the proposal which was allotted to him at the beginning signs by advance the negation of the freedom which should belong to the legitimately responsible governments before their Parliaments and their people. This initial abuse of power was so well understood that, from now on, each Member State wants to have a representative within the Commission. The initial defect is thus uncovered. The Commission became free-for-all. The enlightened despotism of the Commission, sold by the auction with the wire of widenings, is felt more and more like arbitrary pure and simple (one saw it for the project of Directive Bolkenstein). The last presidents of the Commission, Santer, Prodi, Barroso, illustrated, each one with its manner, the decline of this one. ”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, president of a table-round entitled a project for Europe of tomorrow, noted in March 2004, in a report submitted to the president of the European commission, Romano Prodi:

“Today, the method Monnet arrived at exhaustion. The imbalance which it generated - the increasingly important political competences entrusted at an institution of technical nature - provoqe a major institutional crisis: the European Union is sick of its democratic deficit. ”

Note

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