Duch d’Hondta w Strasburgu. Zasada proporcjonalnej dystrybucji stanowisk w Parlamencie Europejskim
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Date
2011
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Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM
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D’Hondt’s spirit in Strasbourg. The principle of proportional distribution of posts in the European Parliament
Abstract
Proportionality is an intrinsic feature of parliamentary democracy. It is a principle stating
that, depending on its size, each political party has a commensurate ability to influence legislature.
This is confirmed by comparative studies which show that proportionality is a significant
principle in the distribution of parliamentary posts in a majority of West European states.
Consequently, even deputies from the smallest parties can chair commissions or lead sessions
of the chambers, and by this token participate in the political decision-making process. This
softens the domination of the majority party and – in line with Arend Lijphart’s concept – generates
consensual democracy, based on the search for broad compromises instead of simply
outvoting the opponent.
Given this picture, a question emerges whether the situation is similar in the representative
institution of the European Union, i.e. the European Parliament. The paper answers this question
positively. The standard of proportionality has strong roots in the European Parliament
forming a fundamental principle expressed in terms of d’Hondt’s formula applied to distribute
posts among different political groups. This mainly concerns the division of the members of
the Presidium and commission chairmen, who exercise the most important decisive functions.
The implementation of the idea of appropriate representation may not be ideal, but divergences
are rare, insignificant and usually they result from political bargaining that favors
smaller fractions. The proportionality principle is also binding when distributing parliamentary
posts inside political groups. There is a strong and positive correlation between the size of
national delegations and the number of key posts they obtain in the Parliament – members of
the Presidium, commission chairmen and coordinators. Only in the case of the latter is proportionality
subjected to certain distortions, following from their key political importance. This,
however, does not interfere with the general picture of symmetric participation of national
groups in appointing parliamentary posts.
In conclusion, the standard of proportionality allows all political groups to adequately participate
in the work of the European Parliament, which deserves to be emphasized, the more
so, as it is not formalized.
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Citation
Przegląd Politologiczny, 2011, nr 3, s. 147-166.
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1426-8876