«Democracy deficit» in the European Union: problems and possible solutions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21564/2414-990X.170.334538Keywords:
democratic deficit, political legitimacy, European Parliament, Commission, national parliaments, citizens’ initiative, European UnionAbstract
The significance of the survey is based on examining the democratic deficit in the European Union as a political and legal phenomenon that affects the trust of member states' citizens in the EU and the prospects for deepening and expanding integration. The democratic deficit is linked to the gap between the actual effectiveness of democratic institutions and public expectations. Such political distance could undermine the legitimacy of institutions of power at both the national and supranational levels. The aim of this article is to reveal the phenomenon of democratic deficit in the EU, identify its causes and consequences, and seek ways to overcome it by strengthening democratic institutions and activating civil society. The achievement of the research objectives and tasks was facilitated by the application of an approach whereby, instead of relying on a rigid taxonomy of political regimes such as democracy, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism, the concept of democratic deficit is considered in the article as reflecting different degrees of democratic governance, pointing to the shortcomings of the structure of the European Union's institutions and the procedure for their implementation in the event of a departure from the principles of freedom, equality, and solidarity. The study concluded that the pan-European model of democracy, which is based on several principles of legitimacy, inevitably generates certain contradictions between them. As a result, it is impossible to completely avoid conflict over the “democratic deficit” in the European Union, even if the founding treaties provide for certain mechanisms to ensure complementarity between the principles of legitimacy of power and minimisation of tensions between them. However, such conflicts should not automatically be considered dysfunctional or normatively undesirable. Addressing the democratic deficit in the EU requires strengthening representative institutions, accountability mechanisms, and encouraging public participation to ensure the legitimacy of EU institutions.
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