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A
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decisions and a genuine competition between government and
opposition which is transparent for citizens, can come about”
(Eriksen & Fossum, 2011: 159). In fact, it is astonishing how much
the observation by Weiler et al. nearly two decades ago that, “[i]n
its present state, no one who votes in the European elections has a
strong sense at all of affecting critical policy choices at the
European level and certainly not of confirming or rejecting
European governance” still holds true after the Treaty of Lisbon
(Weiler, Haltern, & Mayer, 1995: 9). A parliament that perfectly
represents the will of the people is a utopian dream
—
parliaments
in even the most democratic countries constantly fall short of that
ideal. The problem with the EP is not that it fails to represent
perfectly the will of the European people, but rather that, on the
top of increasingly problematic national representative legislatures,
an even less democratically representative, supra-national body
possessing legislative power exceeding those of national
parliaments is imposed.
(B) Empirical Assessment
Has the Treaty of Lisbon empowered an institution whose
legitimacy is in serious question, particularly in relative terms
compared to national parliaments? According to a survey in the UK
conducted at the eve of the 2014 European Elections, over 52% of
respondents could name their MP, and 31% could name their local
councillors. But only 11% said they were able to name a MEP in
their region (Coman & Helm, 2014). Similarly, only 9% of those
surveyed in the Dublin city center could name any of their three
MEPs, a figure likely above the Irish average given that Dublin is
the capital (O’Connell, 2013). Even in Germany, where voters are
supposedly well informed and sophisticated about EU politics,
Berlin was about the only city where EU election posters could be
seen along the streets. Fearing that EU politics would be too boring
for the audience, German public television had to push a televised
debate among top candidates for the European elections from ARD