Europe's RAISON D'ÊTRE?
| Date | 01 December 2011 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1101800402 |
| Author | Gráinne De Búrca |
| Published date | 01 December 2011 |
| Subject Matter | Guest Editorial |
418 18 MJ 4 (2011)
GUest eDItoRIAL
eURoPe’s RaIson d’ÊtRE?
G B*
In a recent editorial comment in the European Journal of International Law, Joseph
Weiler presents the EU’s three major failings as the lack of strong democracy, the lack
of capacity and resolve, and the slide in the legitimacy and mobilizing force of the EU
and its institutions. He contra sts the founding tendency of the European Community
to legitimate itself by ‘politic al messianism’, by which he means the pursuit of a mission
or ideals (such as peace, prosperity and supra nationalism) articulated by an elite but
not originating in popu lar consent or ordinary political processes, with the democratic
constitutionalism of modern Nation States. e gist of his thesis is t hat political
messianism, however necessar y it may have seemed at the outset of the European
integration project, is always doomed to col lapse, and that if Europe cannot shi the
foundations of its legitimacy f rom the pursuit of ideals to regular process-democracy
then it, too, will continue its downward slide. e contrast he draws is bet ween the
ordinary democrat ic constitutionalism of modern states, and the elite ideal-driven
project of the European Union polity. e latter is doomed to fai l if it does not transform
itself – or rather, its mode of legitimation – into that of t he former.
ere is no question that Europe is in deep cr isis at present, and is so in a sense
that transcends t he way the term ‘crisis’ has been applied to vi rtually ever y twist
and turn of the EU project since t he ‘empty chair’ policy of the 1960s. e growth of
Euroscepticism and t he decline in the popular legiti macy of the EU since the adoption of
the Maastricht Treaty have been signi cantly exacerbated by the banki ng and sovereign
debt dilemmas of the las t few years. e thin ness of the EU’s democratic foundations is
being sorely tested at present. And yet, whi le most would readily concede that, despite
the complications that greater democrat ization would bring (as the recent call for a
Greek referendum on the bailout illust rated), the EU needs to strengthen its democratic
foundations and processes, t he idea that the EU’s legitimacy shou ld and could be based
simply or primarily on democrat ic-process legitimac y seems premature.
Although it has now been in ex istence for six decades, the EU remai ns signicantly
dierent from a Nation State in many respects, including in relation to the source of
its polity legitimac y. Unlike a state, the EU cannot – at least not in its present state of
development- rely on ordinary democratic processes or democratic constitutional
* Professor, NYU Law Sc hool.
To continue reading
Request your trial