The Committees of Independent Experts: expertise in the service of democracy?

Abstract

Starting from a deliberately limited topic - the Committees of Independent Experts - this article looks at the tensions between the different models of democracy in the EU. It shows that the parliamentary model of democracy remains subject to serious limits in the EU. The creation of the Committees of Independent Experts is the direct outcome of the European Parliament's inability to implement formal mechanisms of parliamentary control, such as censure or Temporary Committees of Inquiry. In calling for experts to control and assess the Commission, the European Parliament itself has shown the importance in the EU of non- parliamentary control procedures. Better adapted to the institutional structure of the EU than the classical parliamentary instruments, these procedures, based on " wise men', remain questionable with respect to the principle of accountability. Their legitimacy is fragile because they can easily be led away from their aims, or even captured by the very actors they are meant to control, outside of any public deliberation. They cannot yet be considered sufficient elements of a new normative system which would suffice to ensure the development of a supranational democracy in the EU.