University of California--Berkeley law professor Martin Shapiro told an audience of about 60 people that European governments are creating laws without popular approval or public awareness.
"Many of the European Union's laws are being written by commissions of technical experts who are elected by nobody," Shapiro told the crowd in the Hinman Forum at the Rockefeller Center. "You would hardly call it a democratic law-making system."
Shapiro said the EU Parliament -- which is the only one of the organization's four branches elected by the citizens of its member nations -- has no direct say in the selection of the members of the technical commissions.
In addition, he said, there is currently no empirical data on the commissions' activities.
"It is as if congress wrote legislation without any congressional record," Shapiro said.
This lack of records, he said, has left the citizens of the EU's member nations completely unaware of the organization's activities.
After listening to his speech, Shapiro said, the audience would "know more than most Europeans know about how the European Union operates."
According to Shapiro, the most likely source of future strain on the EU is its committment to expanding into Eastern Europe.
Shapiro said there is a danger the EU's policy "will become visible earlier than they want it to become visible and they will get a negative response," Shapiro said.
Shapiro concluded his speech with some commentary on the instability of the EU.
"The creation of pragmatic government is like sailing a boat as you build it," he said. "You're adding planks and sails at every moment to keep it afloat and you're not exactly sure that it will stay afloat.
"The European Union looks different every day." Shapiro said.
Shapiro's speech was sponsored by the Governemnt department and Rockefeller Center.
