For all that, the European Parliament’s importance goes far beyond its members’ technical expertise on complex issues, or its usefulness as a democratic fig leaf for an EU decision-making process that is dominated by inter-governmental horse-trading. The parliament has been able to claw greater power for itself because it is the only mechanism Europe has for questioning and challenging EU policy proposals, and ironing out the sometimes clumsy and high-handed diktats of Brussels’ officialdom.
尽管如此，欧洲议会的重要性远远超出其成员国的表面上对复杂问题的透彻理解，或作为欧盟决策过程中的民主遮羞布，这种过程主要被政府间的讨价还价所主宰。议会已经能够掌握更大的权力，因为它是欧洲唯一的能对欧盟的政策建议提出质疑和挑战的机制，也能熨平布鲁塞尔官场上有时出现的笨拙的高压式命令。