Legislation, Regulation, and Participation

Abstract

The inter-institutional balance of power within the EU is central to the new constitutional order, when viewed from the perspectives of legitimacy, democracy, and efficacy. It is therefore not surprising that this topic has been contentious. This chapter assesses changes made by the Lisbon Treaty, which relate to legislative power broadly conceived. It draws together three areas that are central to any such assessment. The first part of the chapter examines the way in which the Lisbon Treaty has altered the process for the making of primary legislative acts. The second part shifts to the new regime for the passage of delegated acts. These are formally classified in the Lisbon Treaty as nonlegislative acts, but this merely signifies that they were not made in accordance with a procedure for the making of legislative acts. The third part of the chapter is concerned with participatory democracy. The chapter concludes with detailed analysis of the overall impact of the changes made by the Lisbon Treaty on democracy in the EU.