Is it Really Possible to Democratize the Euro-Polity?

Abstract

My root assumptions in this essay are the following and, if they seem implausible, do not bother to read further since all of the subsequent argumentation is contingent upon their, at least, superficial plausibility:

• 1. The emerging Euro-polity has not yet acquired its definitive institutional configuration, either in terms of its territorial scale, its functional scope or its level of political authority.1

• 2. The Euro-polity in its present, provisional, configuration is not a democracy and will not become one unless and until its member states decide explicitly to endow it with new rules and rights.2

• 3. The conjunctival forces affecting its configuration are currently pushing the Euro-polity in contrary directions toward diverse outcomes with no stable equilibrium likely to emerge in the near future.3

• 4. Nevertheless, its most likely outcome within the medium-term (say, 20 years) is a form of non-state, non-national polity or stable political order which is novel, i.e. will not resemble either an inter-governmental organization or a supra-national state or any of the possible points along this institutional continuum.

• 5. If, eventually, its member states decide to transform this novel polity into a democracy, they will have to experiment with new forms of citizenship, representation and decision-making in order to be successful. Merely copying the institutions of existing national democracies, even federal ones, will not suffice — and could even have counter-productive effects.4