Complex EU lawmaking dubbed ‘infernal, undemocratic’

EU Observer ^ | 04.03.13 @ 09:24 (March 4) | Honor Mahony

[Olog-hai]

Brussels is awash with stories about the unhealthy influence of lobbyists on lawmakers, but as big a scandal, say some experts, is the increasing amount of legislation made with little scrutiny at all.

The lack of oversight—despite the EU capital’s 754 MEPs and thousands of lobbyists—is down to the rising use of so-called secondary legislation coupled with a greater tendency to fast-track primary laws. The twin effect has been to make much of EU law-making “untransparent” and “unpredictable,” says Daniel Gueguen, himself a lobbyist and long-time expert on so-called comitology. …

The second layer system is complicated and, says Gueguen, gives a lot power to the European Commission. … Secondary legislation is either a general delegated act or a more technical implementing act enabling the European Commission to respectively tweak laws or decide on how they should be implemented. …

[Olog-hai]

All closed-door legislation too. Just like the USSR’s way of doing things.

[Cololeo]

Watch carefully. This is where the US is going.

[Olog-hai]

I see a good few of the patterns already. Even worse, we have a president who once said he was “extraordinarily impressed” by the European leadership and the closed-door horse trading a bit too much.