Are domestic discourses about democracy in the EU just “cheap talk” or do they matter in the practices of EU constitutional politics, such as treaty reform and European elections? Which kind of democracy for Europe will be represented in different national public spheres? To address these questions, the paper adopts the framework of "discursive representation" that does not focus on the representation of persons or group interests but rather on the representation of discourses. Asking what kind of discourses on democracy will be represented as appropriate and viable for the EU, discursive representations are selected in relation to two instances of EU politics: EU constitutional and reform treaty politics and European elections. The aim is to establish what impact the EU’s different “representative modes” have on discursive EU democracy representation as well as whether and to what extent these processes collide or cohere within and across diverse national contexts. For the purpose of this evaluation, a distinction is made between conventional arenas of representation – national parliaments and electoral campaigns –and alternative forms of discursive representation between and beyond elections, namely through mass media, interest groups, civil society, and courts.
