Law Justice and Democracy in Europe. Managerial Law, Volume 48, Issue 4 (Electronic book text)

On May 1st 2004 10 new Member States acceded to the European Union bringing its membership to 25 member states with a total population of 457 million people. The values of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect for the rule of law were pre-eminent characteristics of the states which came together to form the Communities of the 1950s. Yet the EU has been castigated for a lack of democracy, and some commentators have gone so far as to declare that if the European Union were a state and it applied for EU membership it would not meet its own conditions of respect for democracy and the rule of law. In this e-book the writers have analysed various aspects of the operation of democracy and law in Europe in order to present some insights into why the EU continues to attract new member states.