EU legitimacy crisis: Problem of democracy, delivery or perception?[de] 

Different - mostly complementary - lines of argumentation were used to throw light on crisis: 

1. The democratic challenge

Ton Nijhuis, Director of the  German Institute of Amsterdam , summed up the main democratic challenge facing the EU: “Europe was never a project of the citizens, but of the political elites”. In his view, the ‘no’ of the Dutch citizens to the Constitutional Treaty was their revenge on the politicians for not having listened to them. 

However, most participants agreed that a rescue of the Constitution was vital to make the EU more democratic. 

Daniela Schwarzer from the  German Institute for International and Security Affairs  said that some political leaders preferred to speak of a “delivery crisis” to distract from the more fundamental problem: the necessity of democratic reform.   

In the view of MEP  Jo Leinen , President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, the European parties need to be strengthened, e. g. via European lists at the EP elections, for them to be able to act as mediators between the citizens and the institutions.   

Franck Biancheri, President of the political movement  Newropeans , said that the EU needed a democratic re-foundation by opening more ways for the citizens to influence its policies.

2. The delivery challenge 

Living up to the expectations of the citizens in areas such as economy and employment as well as foreign and security policy was one of the main points emphasised by the participants. 

Henrik Uterwedde, Deputy Director of the  German-French Institute (dfi) , believed that a reform of the European social models was necessary for the EU to reach the Lisbon goals and become a world leader in research and innovation. A substantial redistribution of social expenditure would have to take place to allow for higher investments in education, to create employment and to make possible the survival of social market economy. 

As regards the EU foreign policy it was underlined that most EU citizens were in favour of a stronger role of the EU in the world. According to Hanns W. Maull, Chair for  International Relations  at the German University of Trier, the EU could develop into a significant actor on the global stage, if the member states were to develop the necessary political will. Currently, this seemed most likely in relation to foreign policy aspects of energy security.

3. The perceptual challenge

Many participants emphasised that by now the historical successes – peace, stability and prosperity - of European integration since the Second World War were taken for granted by most citizens. 

Charles Grant, Director of the London-based  Centre for European Reform , said that one of the problems of the EU was that many of its achievements (e. g. in the internal market) were not perceived by the citizens as results of European integration. 

However, it was important not to forget the achievements. As François Ernenwein, editor-in-chief of the French magazine  La Croix , pointed out, “we have to remember the successes of the past in order to revitalise ourselves”. 

Some scholars believed that a future-oriented European identity could emerge from reflexive discourses of Europeans on themselves and their relations to other parts of the world. 

Furthermore, the German publicist Peter Prange said that the divergent views on the EU’s political, economic and social objectives as well as the unclarity about its borders currently made impossible a common narrative with which all EU citizens could identify.