The Role of Education in Scrutiny, Governance and Democratic Oversight

This paper intends to provide a theoretical critical review of the key issues to consider, in making the financial accountability of the European Union (EU) more transparent. This paper intends to demonstrate that the role of education is pivotal in the democratisation of financial affairs of the EU, as well as for European integration. This paper posits, EU citizens must be educated so they can provide lay person governance and democratic oversight of European Parliament (EP) financial activity.EU citizens need to be educated to be aware there should be consultation, about where the EU spends the taxation revenue it receives from people. Education is crucial to raise EU citizens’ awareness of various models of EU financial governance. People should be able to evaluate how effective models are, in delivering democratic scrutiny and oversight. Prior to EU financial decisions being made, there needs to be a process in place that is accessible and transparent. A system in operation, which enables EU citizens to make representations, which must be considered by EU financial decision-making panels. Ideally this will happen more often than at present in financial committees with EP decision-makers, democratising financial accountability in the EU.