The European Union: Legitimating Values, Democratic Principles, and Institutional Architectures

The Chapter argues that the European Union cannot be solely legitimated through the production os useful decisions that help maximize member states' national interests (output legitimacy), but that it must fulfill expectations that its decisionmaking processes translate the needs and preferences of European citizens (input legitimacy) and correspond to democratic standards (throughput legitimacy). However, a conventional notion of democracy, as matching chains of delegation and accountability that flow in opposite directions between the citizens and the institutions, cannot do because of the exceptional institutional architecture of the Union. Hence, the need to think creatively about a new kind of multilevel transnational democracy.