Politicization without democratization: How the Eurozone crisis is transforming EU law and politics

Abstract

This article demonstrates how the European integration process overburdened EU law in an attempt to overcome political deficiencies, with negative consequences for the EU's democratic legitimacy. The analysis is framed by the twin crises of twenty-first-century EU constitutionalism: the defeat of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005 and the unfolding Eurozone debt crisis. Part of the legacy of the first crisis was a retreat from the ideal of democratization via politicization. Now, as a result of the second crisis, the integration project has become politicized and European policies highly salient for national voters. However, this process has occurred largely against the will of EU leaders, who have sought technocratic solutions to what are inherently political problems. Thus, over the past decade, the EU has moved from an unsuccessful attempt at democratization via politicization to an unintended politicization without democratization.