The European Parliament as a Forum of National Interest? A Transnationalist Critique of Jürgen Habermas' Reconstruction of Degressive Proportionality

Abstract

AbstractArguing from a transnationalist perspective, this contribution contests Jürgen Habermas' reconstruction of degressive proportionality according to which the principle is justified as a mechanism empowering national interest. The critique is developed on legal, empirical and normative grounds. In the first step, the article demonstrates that the European Parliament (EP) is legally designed to serve as a medium of transnational political alignments. Based on empirical studies, it then shows that the members of the EP exercise their representative role as advocates of political platforms of a cross‐border nature. Normatively, the contribution argues that it is possible to reconstruct degressive proportionality from a transnationalist, European perspective: The purpose of this complex legal construction is to establish the conditions of an open, fair and pluralistic transnational discourse in the EP. Degressive proportionality allows for heterogeneity and diversity within the Union citizenry, which remains – for the time being – divided in national constituencies, to be articulated politically.