Out of time? The democratic limits of EU democracy

Abstract:

The article investigates normative conceptions of EU democracy, which take the state of European Union (EU) integration for granted. It is shown that neither their advanced normative principles nor the core institutions can survive scrutiny of internal consistency and coherence: they cannot satisfy democratic aspirations over time.

Beyond a reformulation of core normative principles, conceptions of EU democracy should explore more creative institutional options for the EU, such as sunset legislation for EU law and a collective facultative waiver for national parliaments in the realm of EU secondary law.