The European Commission's commitment to increasing the social legitimacy of the European Green Deal.

The aim of the paper is to explain the activities undertaken by the European Commission (EC), as a key player in the European Union political system, to increase the social legitimacy of the European Green Deal (EGD) strategy among Europeans. The EGD strategy aims to strengthen the identity of Europeans by supporting the green transition project. At the same time, the strategy is intended to serve as a basis for promoting a new concept of a United Europe, based on values and principles related to environmental protection and climate neutrality. The research results presented in the paper contribute to the scientific debate on the social legitimacy of the European integration project, its crisis in the context of low public acceptance of its key assumptions among the citizens of member states, and the interests and actions of key political actors in pursuit of the political plans of the United Europe based on ideas and values related to ecology. The theoretical framework for the analysis of the article is provided by the social legitimation concept and actor-centered constructivism. Social legitimation is particularly important from the perspective of the stability and sustainability of the EU political system, as it is based on support for supranational authority resulting from the belief in the effectiveness of its actions and the benefits for citizens resulting from the implementation of specific policies. The lack of social acceptance of the policies pursued by the EC undermines the social legitimacy of the proposed concept of an integrated EU. The theory of actor-centered constructivism serves to explain the process of the EC constructing a new political project referred to as the ‘Green Empire’ through the use of the power of legislation, economic instruments, and normative power. The paper is structured in five parts. The first section is dedicated the methodological and theoretical assumptions of the analysis, with the research area delimitation and characteristics of scientific methods applied in research process. In the following part, the article explains the reasons for low level of social legitimacy of the EGD strategy in the EU societies. Then, the new political project of united Europe defined as the ‘Green Empire’ and the significance of the EGD strategy in its development by the EC are discussed. Last, it provides findings from the analysis of the measures employed by the EC to increase the legitimacy of EGD strategy in European societies. The paper concludes by presenting answers to the research questions and developing lessons this analysis holds for explaining political nature of the EGD strategy. The paper answers for the following research questions: 1. What are the reasons for the low level of social legitimacy of the EGD strategy among EU societies? 2. Why is the EC taking effort to increase the social legitimacy of the EGD strategy in the EU? 3. What types of instruments are used by the EC to increase the level of social legitimacy of the EGD strategy?