European Alternatives is calling on the European Parliament to demand Jose Barroso, President of the European Commission, make European decision-making more democratic. Over the coming months the Parliament has an opportunity to make its voice heard in a new institutional settlement with the Commission CAMPAIGN UPDATE European Alternatives has been running a campaign for greater democracy in the EU over January 2010. During this time the European Parliament has been auditioning the nominated European Commissioners, and voted to approve the entire Commission on the 9th February. We have been calling for three conditions to be met to improve the democratic importance of the European Parliament, without having to change the current treaties. These conditions are the following: The conditions: These three conditions already have wide support amongst the members of the European Parliament from all parties, and have been much discussed. They do not require changes in the Treaties, but only for the European Commission to agree to carry them out in practice. On the 27th January representatives of the European Parliament met with Jose Barroso to agree on the basis of a new framework for relations between the Parliament and the Commission. Barroso granted the parliament a greater role in foreign affairs, the chairman of the relevant parliamentary committee will have a seat in some international negotiations led by the Commission, and the parliament should have more information about foreign relations of the Union. Of course, it will be important to follow how true this is in the proceedings of the institutions over the next 5 years. Barroso refused the other two requests on our list. He refused to give the parliament any say over the appointment of high officials to the External Action service, and, crucially, he refused the request that the parliament should be able to propose legislation. He only committed the Commission to responding to the suggestions of the parliament within 3 months. Of course, the question is how hard the Commission will be pushed by the parliament to justify its responses to legislative procedures. If the parliament and citizens work together to make the Commission explain itself, then European democracy will be improved. On the 9th of May, before voting in the new Commission, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the Framework agreement, which is to be concluded with the Commission in the coming months. The resolution can be read here This resolution notably pushes for the Parliament to have the power to censure individual Commissioners, whereas at the moment it can only censure the entire Commission. European Alternatives commits to continuing to campaign public for the democratic role of the parliament in the European Union over the coming term of the Commission. The forthcoming period will decide how much more democracy the Lisbon Treaty has brought to the EU. This will be decided the practices that are adopted in implementing the new arrangements. Citizens and parliamentarians must work together to ensure that the voice of European citizens is fully heard and taken into account in Union decisions. An article on the reasons behind our ongoing campaign can be read here