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Forum Paper Title: The Concept of Independence
in EU Law
Description of Forum Paper:
This paper examines the use of the independence ideal in
organizing the EU's administrative branch. The paper argues that independence
from national governments is required of national and supranational authorities
because of a distrust of politics. Different types of politics are perceived as
destructive to the common good: special interest politics in the case of the
new food safety agency, state-owned monopolies in the case of newly liberalized
services, short-term electoral politics in the case of the European system of
central banks, and majoritarian disregard for rights in the case of race
discrimination. The paper concludes that, although independence from executive
branch politics is important, the rhetoric of independence risks insulating EU
administration from legitimate democratic debate.
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