Democracy in Europe: Why the Development of the EU into a Transnational Democracy Is Necessary and How It Is Possible

• Author: Jürgen Habermas
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12128
• Date: 01 July 2015
• Published date: 01 July 2015

Democracy in Europe: Why the

Development of the EU into a

Transnational Democracy Is

Necessary and How It Is Possible

Jürgen Habermas*

Abstract: Can the process of European unification lead to a form of democracy that is

at once supranational and situated above the organisational level of a state? The

supranational federation should be constructed in such a way that the heterarchical

relationship between the Member States and the federation remains intact. The author

finds the basis for such an order in the idea of the EU constituted by a ‘doubled’

sovereign—the European citizens and the European peoples (the States). In order to

sustain such an order, reforms of the existing European treaties are needed. It is

necessary to eliminate the legitimation deficits of the EU in a future Euro-Union—that

is, a more closely integrated core Europe. The European Parliament would have to gain

the right to take legislative initiatives, and the so-called ‘ordinary legislative procedure’,

which requires the approval of both chambers, would have to be extended to all policy

fields.

I Introduction

In this essay,1I will deal with the problems currently facing the EU with a view to a

constitutional issue that is of importance far beyond Europe—namely the question of

whether the democratic procedure, which up to now has been established only within

the framework of nation-states, can be extended beyond national boundaries. In other

words: Can the process of European unification lead to a form of democracy that is

at once supranational and situated above the organisational level of a state?2Today,

the issue of a supra-nationalisation of democracy has become more urgent than ever

because the national democracies are becoming more and more entangled in problems

arising out of the growing discrepancy between a world society that is becoming

* Jürgen Habermas, Professor Emeritus, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt.

1This is the Holberg Lecture read in Stavanger on 11 September 2014 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary

of the Holberg Prize, which the author received in 2005. Translated by Ciaran Cronin.

2An informative overview of existing approaches to this development is provided by the two intro-

ductory articles by Lucio Levi and Claudia Kissling in L. Levi, G. Finizio and N. Vallinoto (eds), The

Democratization of International Institutions: First International Democracy Report (Routledge, 2014),

7–53.

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European Law Journal, Vol. 21, No. 4, July 2015, pp. 546–557.

© 2015 Jürgen Habermas., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA