When cracks recently appeared in beams of the European Parliament’s main chamber, forcing its closing,
writes
James Kanter in the
International Herald Tribune,
one member, Nigel Farage of the U.K. Independence Party, proclaimed that
he would “work for the day that the whole democratic facade of the
European Parliament is shut as well.”
Mr. Farage is an avowed anti-European known for extreme views. But even
for Europeans who do not actively resent the Parliament, it has become a
powerful symbol of how institutions designed to build a united Europe
have faltered as the project faces the most serious crisis of its
60-year history.
A poll conducted last November found “a sharp decline” in the European
Parliament’s image compared with a similar poll in 2008, when Europe’s
economic crisis bloomed.
… The Parliament’s “diminishing legitimacy and authority,” said Fredrik
Erixon of the European Center for International Political Economy, a
research group in Brussels, was “really very worrying at a time when
people have been protesting in the streets against diktats from Europe
to fix their economies.”
… The Parliament, with 754 members, is the only directly elected part of the apparatus that runs the
European Union.
But the percentage of eligible voters who have cast ballots every five
years has declined to just over 40 percent from more than 60 percent in
less than a quarter of a century.
In the meantime, Mr. Erixon said, “lobbyists have stepped into the
vacuum left by the weakening link between citizens and
parliamentarians,” who are popularly resented for their web of generous
allowances and the influence they wield over regulations.
On many days parts of the parliament building have the feel of a glitzy
trade show. Business lobbies organize conferences in meeting rooms and
host meals in the dining rooms at the invitation of friendly members.
They also mount exhibitions — some in seeming violation of the
Parliament’s own guidelines.
… representatives are allowed to hold second
jobs with no limits on salaries and accept flights and accommodations
without declaring all of them. By comparison, such practices are
explicitly forbidden to members of the U.S. Congress.
The rules prevent members who join or establish lobbying firms from
using their lifetime access to Parliament once they leave office. But as
of September, the parliament had not asked any former deputy to hand in
a badge. More than 2,900 badges are held by registered lobbyists,
according to officials in The Parliament’s press service.
