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“This book is an enrichment for the standing debate about Europe and should be published and widely read and discussed.” – Boudewijn R.A. BouckaertReflections on Democracy in the European Union, with a foreword by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, is a unique volume that offers an interdisciplinary approach on EU democracy, law and politics from economic, juridical and philosophical perspectives. It is divided in three parts and deals with EU's contemporary challenges, its historical development, democracy and rule of law. The volume connects the EU's present to the past in order to reflect on possible future scenario's – which is especially important in these turbulent times after Brexit.The volume is highly recommended for academics, economists, politicians, jurists and policy makers.

Die Entwicklung einer europäischen Bürgerschaft, einer europäischen Öffentlichkeit und der Demokratie in der Europäischen Union sind Voraussetzung für Integration und Legitimation der sich erweiternden Europäischen Union. Die Beiträge analysieren den Entwicklungsstand von Demokratie und Bürgerbeteiligung, der europäischen Öffentlichkeit und der europäischen Integration im Spannungsfeld von EU, Nationen und Regionen.

The European Union is frequently accused of having a'democratic deficit'. Many commentators argue that this could be remedied by increasing the powers of the European Parliament relative to those of the Council and the Commission. The fact that the European Parliament is the only EU institution whose members are directly elected leads to the assumption that it is also the most legitimate. The author argues that this position is based on the flawed assumption that the nature of the European citizenry is similar to those of the member states. In other words, the position assumes that the union has a demos, or a people, who are prepared to accept majority outcomes even when finding themselves in the minority. In this book the author argues that this is not the case and that the most severe dimension of the democracy problem is not procedural, but socio-psychological. The fact that the EU does not have a people means that establishing an EU-wide democracy based on analogies to domestic political systems is likely to lead to a further loss of democratic legitimacy. The EU can rely on output legitimacy in policy areas which do not require pan-European solidarity and identity and in which policy-making at EU-level increases efficiency and thereby benefits all citizens. However, policy areas which require high levels of solidarity or a common identity should either remain fully within the nation states, or be subject to intergovernmental rather than supranational decision-making at EU-level.

This is a study in EU legitimacy from the perspective of EU citizens. Mather argues that legitimacy is empirical:'legitimacy only exists if people feel that it does'and that the EU is a unique and dynamic institution, hence legitimating factors are also evolutionary.

The contributors to this book examine the issues of constitutional choice that face the governments and citizens of today's Europe. Divided into three sections this study addresses: questions of political legitimacy and the meaning of democratic deficit in the EU; the reality of what institutional reforms and decision making processes are possible; and the rights of citizenship and values that should be protected.