Governance beyond the nation-state. Reflections on the democratic deficit of the European Union

Abstract

Many suggestions for an institutional improvement of European decision-making are based on the parliamentary model of government existing in the national member states. The widespread notion of 'democratic deficit' plays down the difficulties that will almost inevitably arise when transferring democracy from the national to the European level. Although the European Union has many features of a parliamentary federal state, it lacks a democratic foundation and substructure. The democratic problem is attributable, on the one hand, to institutional deficiencies of the electoral and party system; on the other hand, it refers to the absence of a common European identity that would be necessary for the acceptance of an at least partially majoritarian system. As the consequences of globalization call for a continuation of the supranational integration process, democratic reform in the EU must leave its impasse and be put on a new institutional basis. Two ways of democratization are suggested here: one includes the replacement of the parliamentary model of government with a presidential one; the other is a strengthening of the integration process in those policy areas with which a state is commonly associated (public security, defence, foreign affairs).