The EU’s Democratic Self-Defence: Normative Legitimation and Legal Limits

This paper examines whether, and on what terms, the European Union can be understood as a legitimate subject of democratic self-defence. Given that the latter presupposes a democratic polity, the EU’s contested democratic credentials – from the ‘no demos’ thesis to long-standing allegations of a democratic deficit – raise doubts as to the accuracy ofdemocratic self-defence in the EU context. In response, the paper argues that democratic self-defence should be grounded not primarily in a polity’s present democratic condition, but in the moral right to justification held by those subjected to its authority. Because the EU creates a pervasive “demos of subjection,” it carries a moral imperative to enable democratic co-authorship. Building on a conception of the EU as a “democratic-striving polity”, the paper argues that the EU’s democratic self-defence should be guided by the motto of “defending while democratising” European democracy. The paper then contrasts this normative argument with the EU’s legal reality. Although recent EU instruments are politically justified in the name of defending democracy, their legal bases rely on internal market competences, creating a justificatory gap between political objectives and legal framing.