After decades of “permissive consensus” a demand for democratic control of the EU level of government is developing.
The EU’s policy reach is impacting with increasing force on European citizens. This makes the question of how democratically legitimate EU decisions really are rather urgent and politically important, irrespective of the formal adherence to the Treaties of the procedures that produce them.
The question is thus not only and simply how governmental actions can be controlled at European level, but, above all, how citizens can be made aware and convinced that they are indeed in control. Any discussion on how to build democratic supranational or intergovernmental institutions that produce decisions with respect to member states’ sovereignties and prerogatives must be expanded to include how to build citizens’ consensus around such decisions. Such a discussion can only be based on existing models and notions. Inevitably, these are those provided by member states’ political systems, which most European citizens consider “normal”.
If we frame our discussion on EU democracy within such models we necessarily must consider the role of political parties. “Normal” democracies are in fact based on party government.
Parties are important because they perform crucial functions for the development and operation of democratic political systems.
This paper will reflect on the differences that exist between national political systems and the European Union in terms of the potential ability of political parties to perform similar functions at both levels. In particular, we will focus on the tension between representative and governmental functions, as well as on the different levels of organisational integration (among the “three faces”) of national and European parties respectively.
