Hiding behind Europe’s skirts.

European issues rarely form a part of Irish political discussions at election time, despite the growing importance of the Union for the voters. Oh, some of the detailed grievances will get an airing (the Nitrates directive for instance) but the bigger issues will be kept until we next have a referendum on a new treaty.

In the meantime, governments will carry on as usual: taking credit for anything popular the EU does and blaming the EU for unpopular rules. Ministers generally act as if EU Law is handed down from a group of ancient gods without mortal intervention. Critics will mutter about the “democratic deficit” and the Minister will shrug sadly at her lack of power. In almost every case the Minister in question agreed the new rules with her European colleagues, behind closed doors in a secret meeting of the EU Council of Ministers. Technically, there is no democratic deficit: every EU law is agreed by the duly elected representatives of the populations of the member states.

Here’s how it works: all EU law is proposed by the EU Commission, effectively a group of civil servants appointed by the member states. Depending on the area of law in question the new legislation must be agreed with by both the EU Council, representing the governments of the member states, and/or the EU Parliament, which directly represents the citizens of the member states. Debate in the Parliament is open as is usual for a democratic legislature. Debate in the Council however, is secret: the deliberations of the Ministers are not available to the voters. The excuse for this is that the Council also acts as an executive body in the same way that the Cabinet here does. Clearly the discussions of an executive can’t be open in the way that a legislature must be.

The proposed EU Constitution included provisions that would have changed this situation, making meetings of the EU Council open to the public when it was acting as a legislature and closed when it was acting as an executive body. This is a key reform that would enhance the democratic credentials of the EU and enacting it doesn’t require anyone to hold a referendum: a simple decisions of the Council would suffice. But nobody seems to be in a rush to do it.

My theory is that the national politicians of the EU states enjoy the ability to hide behind the EU. They can effectively disavow decisions that they agreed with because the debates are behind closed doors. There are no pictures of Irish ministers voting for unpopular measures, no quotes from their debates on legislation. There are minutes and discussion documents but they don’t make good fodder for the media.

The Council are going to consider changing their rules this year so maybe there won’t be anywhere for the Minister to hide next year.