Democratic Legitimacy in the Era of Fiscal Integration

• • 
  • Presentation speakers
    • Francesco Nicoli, Trento University, Italy

  Abstract:

  While several countries still struggle to return to sustainable growth and Euroscepticism has shown its strength during the 2014 European Elections, Europe is slowly advancing on the path of fiscal integration. This paper reassesses how legitimacy is provided when economic policy coordination becomes a central priority and why the ensuing fiscal integration constitutes a “genetic change” for the Union. The first section recalls alternative views on the EU legitimacy; the second section focuses on the financial and economic crisis by showing that any form of sustainable solution to the crisis requires a degree of fiscal and economic integration. The third section sheds light on the interactions between democratic legitimacy and fiscal integration when the no demos thesis is taken into account, discussing the long term implication of the emerging “legitimacy trilemma”.
   
  Note.
  A version of this paper has been accepted for publication in the volume Europe’s crisis: the conflict-theoretical perspectives, edited by Krieger, T., Panke, D. and B. Neumaker of the University of Freiburg and it is under peer review since January 2015.

 

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