There is a gap between where the European legislative process increasingly takes place (the supranational dimension) and where citizens look for its existence (still at the national level). This is a problem because democratic legitimacy and accountability are not ensured: the political process lacks a clear “European dimension” through which citizens can easily understand how they can determine the main political direction of policy-making. This paper rests on two assumptions: 1) that the problem of limited democratic accountability within the European Union stems from the equally limited development of a European public sphere and 2) that this limited development of a European public sphere can be blamed on the “policy without politics” modus operandi typical of the Union’s legislative process. This paper goes on to argue, however, that the emergence of xenophobic, conservative and nationalistic political forces on the European political landscape provides a golden opportunity for the politicization of the process of European integration and, in turn, for the development of a European public sphere. Indeed, provided that a number of conditions were to be met, the discursive engagement of openly progressive and liberal socio-political actors with the above-mentioned political forces would not only contribute to bring “European politics into European policy” and thus to the flourishing of a slowly emerging European public sphere. It would, as well, contribute to address Europe’s issues of democratic accountability and citizens'' participation into European political klife and püolicy-making. This paper explores how these developments could be coming about.
