In every democracy the executive is accountable to the legislature. In the same way, the Commission and the Council of the EU must be more accountable to the European Parliament. Extending co-decision - the process through which the Council and the European Parliament pass legislation - to more areas under the Lisbon Treaty is a very important development and so is the proposed European Parliament scrutiny of comitology - the system of committees, comprised of Member State civil servants and Commission officials, that draw up the fine details of technical legislation). The directly elected European Parliament must be granted greater powers of scrutiny to ensure that the policies initiated by technocrats in the Commission and adopted by diplomats and national civil servants in the Council have the approval of the people. Similarly, the European Parliament must also be given the power to initiate legislation as is common place in all democracies.