Why reform European governance?
3.4 Expanding on its thesis that many Europeans feel alienated from the Union’s work, the paper comments: “European integration has delivered fifty years of stability, peace and economic prosperity. It has helped to raise standards of living, built an internal market and strengthened the Union’s voice in the world. It has achieved results which [it] would not have been possible [for Member States to have achieved acting individually]. It has attracted a succession of applications for membership and in a few years time it will expand on a continental scale. It has also served as a model for regional integration across the world. “These results have been achieved by democratic means. The Union is built on the rule of law; it can draw on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and it has a double democratic mandate through a Parliament representing EU citizens and a Council representing the elected governments of the Member States”. 3.5 Elaborating on this theme, the paper refers to: • the dec
