The goodness of fit and the democratic deficit in Europe

Abstract

In her book ‘Democracv in Europe’. Vivien Schmidt argues that the core of the EU's democratic deficit resides in the national politics of the member states, and is more disruptive for simple as opposed to compound politics as a result of institutional fit with the EU polity. This article argues, however, that the level of diffusion of power in a state is not necessarily a good indicator for the loss of democratic quality induced by the EU. Focussing on the disempowerment of national parliaments as the core democratic institutions, we find that Europeanization has caused much more variance within the group of simple and compound politics than between them. The EU-induced loss of legislative power vis-a-vis the executive can be better explained by the nature of the relationship between executive and legislature, which cuts across the distinction between compound vs simple politics. By requiring a close cooperation between the two branches of government, the parliamentary attempt to redress the balance of power by invoking new scrutiny rights vis-a-vis the executive might also result in a new cave at for national democracy: the fusion rather than the separation of powers.