Liberal Democrat: No One Is Pretending The Eu Is Perfect, But We Feel

Liberal Democrat: No one is pretending the EU is perfect, but we feel government at the EU level is typically no better or no worse than government at national or local levels (Graham 2003). The EU will not work as effectively as it could whilst a number of areas that would be better administrated by national parliaments or at a more local level remain centralised. There is also not enough openness regarding how decisions are made or ongoing debates within the EU governance (LD 2005a). Right now the EU is weak on trade, on Iraq, and on and on the Euro (Graham 2003).
Do you believe that there is a democratic deficit within functioning EU? If so, what would be a viable solution for that?
Labour: Our party is supportive of the current EU system, and feels the democratic basis of the EU would be further enhanced by our ratification of the Constitution. Failure to act on the Constitution, and to adopt it, will result in an EU incapable of responding democratically to its challenges (Titley 2004).
Conservative: We find troubling the lack of respect for independence of individual nations by the EU in general. So long as Brussels has increasing power, particularly without increasing accountability, this will continue to be the case. A viable solution would be to strongly limit Brussels' power. National parliaments should be the heart of all EU law-making and decision-making processes. The EU Commission should share its right of legislative initiative with Member States, rather than continue as a monopoly, and the European Parliament should have the right of repeal over any European legislation (Howard 2005).
Liberal Democrat: Not a deficit, necessarily, but certainly some communication issues. European nations need to be more democratic, and EU powers more clearly defined. This will allow us to get the best of the benefits the EU can bring to our economy and our environment (LD 2005a). We believe that more participation in EU and more open reporting of meetings and such leading up to decisions would benefit everyone involved (LD 2005a).

What do you think of EP? Is its power growing? Are they representing citizens' view well?
Labour: Every week the nineteen Labour MEPs (of 75 total) journey to Brussels or Strasbourg to represent the UK. Labour Euro MPs are Britain's ambassadors, campaigners and watchdogs in the EP, and represent their constituents well. In general, the EP power has steadily increased, particularly in recent years. As such, it is vital that our MEPs continue to strive for British concerns (LP 2005). Each and every Labour MEP is determined to work at the very heart of this Parliament, leading the way as we cooperatively find solutions to the many problems we face (Titley 2004).
Conservative: We are concerned regarding the trend over the last decade towards dramatic increase in the EP's powers, yet dramatic decrease in the numbers of European citisens voting in EP elections.