Legitimising EU Governance under Crisis Conditions: Between the Classic Community Method and New Forms of Differentiation

Abstract

The European Union has undergone fundamental internal changes since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008/09 and the subsequent eurozone sovereign debt crisis. The post-crisis policy mechanisms have deepened the internal differentiation of the EU, both in horizontal and vertical terms. Horizontally the EU's main dividing line is between the current euro-19 core group and nine outsiders. Vertically the new policy mechanisms have created multiple levels of integration between the euro core and the outside periphery, which in itself is divided into semi and outer periphery. Internally the euro core has witnessed growing divisions between the stronger Northern European creditor countries and the ailing economies of Southern Europe under the conditions of the sovereign debt crisis. The aim of the panel is to investigate the impact of the EU's increasing internal differentiation on its ability to maintain output legitimacy and efficiency under persistent crisis conditions. The EU is faced with the growing dilemma of having to find effective and lasting solutions to unprecedented internal and external challenges. The EU has struggled to respond to these challenges collectively and displayed major divisions on national interests. The traditional method of seeking collective intergovernmental agreement, the joint decision trap , has turned out to be ineffective as member states fail to uniformly support supranational institutions and policies. It is therefore obvious that the EU will have to find more flexible decision-making and governance mechanisms which are fit to tackle internal and external challenges under the conditions of the growing diversity of national interests. EU leaders also have to address the EU's deepening legitimacy problem, which is at risk of developing into a fully-fledged credibility crisis. In addition, the EU is confronted with the substantial loss of public confidence in its output legitimacy. The formerly predominantly passive acceptance of elite-level decision-making has been steadily eroded. Instead citizens have started to politicise the EU. This resulted in the greater focus on the EU’s lack of input legitimacy in the form of direct participatory mechanisms, essentially an organisation of ‘policies without politics’ (V. Schmidt 2006). The EU's input legitimacy has been reduced further under the new governance mechanisms, which are orientated towards elite-level decision-making with very limited consultation of the European Parliament and no channels for direct public consultation. Moreover, the EU's current legitimacy problem risks leading towards a profound and lasting credibility crisis if the reform of governance fails to improve the efficiency of EU-level policies, especially in the areas of employment and social cohesion. The panel aims to undertake a critical analysis of the EU’s current decision-making and governance mechanisms. Papers are also expected to put forward concrete proposals to reduce the EU's legitimacy crisis through more effective, transparent and flexible decision-making and governance procedures.

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