Democratic deficit of the European Union

The diploma thesis analyses the democratic deficit of the European Union. Each state which enters the European Union has to transfer a part of its sovereignty to supranational institutions. These institutions than adopt legal acts binding for all member states. The paper deals with the separation of powers in the process of adopting legal acts on the European level. The legislative power is represented mainly by the directly elected European Parliament. The diploma thesis defines the term "democratic deficit" as a weakening of the legislative power to the benefit of strengthening of the executive power on the European level and then deals with its origin and development with the emphasis on the increasing competences of the European Parliament. The last part focuses on an engagement of the European Parliament itself in an attempt of removing the democratic deficit, especially in the period after the adoption of the treaty of Nice and the entering of the Lisbon treaty into force