The European Parliament’s political legitimacy and the Commission’s `Misleading Management’: Towards a `Parliamentarian’ European Union?

This paper studies the basic characteristics of the political legitimacy of the European Parliament (EP) within the supranational political system of the European Union (EU) and argues that an increase in the political legitimacy of the EP might provide a solution to the legitimacy problem at the EU level of supranational governance. The case study of 'misleading management' in the European Commission followed be the en masse resignation of its leadership emphasises the increased powers of the EP in the 'Amsterdam year' and signals the increased potential of the EP in the institutional politics of the EU. Finally, introducing the 'parliamentary model', this paper outlines a set of mechanisms to increase the accountability of a 'bureaucratic' Commission to the EP and favours increased powers in the EP as necessary for its political legitimacy.

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