Executive Governance as a New Policy Model in the EU? The Crisis Management of the EU and its Impacts on the Political System

Abstract

The EU crisis has brought about fundamental impacts on the constitutional
framework of the EU governance. The internationalization of EU law, the
strengthening of the intergovernmental form of decision making with the
crucial role of the European Council and the corresponding weakening of
parliamentary bodies can be seen as symptoms of a shift of the EU towards
an executive form of federal governance. However, this trend may not be
interpreted simply as a “return” of the sovereign state as the key actor
within the European polity, as it might be according to traditional theories
of emergency powers. The decision making is de facto relocated from the
political level to the level of administration. Thus, instead of de-parliamentarization, we can speak about de-politization or a
reconfiguration of the political. The crucial role here – even in decisions of
summits of the European Council and the Euro Council – is played by
administrative bodies, particulary those of the Council Secretariat and the
Commission’s services. While the economic crisis is (hopefully) already
overcome, the overcoming of the crisis of democracy is not in sight.