To Everything there is a Season: Instrumentalising Article 10 TEU to Exclude Undemocratic Member State Representatives from the European Council and the Council

Abstract

This paper presents the argument that art. 10 TEU could be utilised to confront the problem of undemocratic Member State representatives in the European Council and the Council. First, it is contended that art. 10(2) TEU, read with the principle of representative democracy in art. 10(1) TEU, should be interpreted operatively to mean that a Member State is not entitled to representation in the European Council or the Council where its Head of State/Government or its government are not “democratically accountable either to their national Parliaments, or their citizens”. Secondly, it is argued that art. 10 TEU can be instrumentalised using several procedural mechanisms, some of which could be engaged by way of citizen action, thereby bypassing the decisional traps and lack of political will that afflict art. 7 TEU, to contribute to the defence of the principle of representative democracy.

Keywords: Council of the European Union; Democracy; EU law; European Council; European Union; Member States