Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2021 6(2), 1151-1172 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. The importance of the public sphere for the democratic legitimacy of law. - III. Conceptualising European public spheres. - III.1. Barriers to European...

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Autor principal:	Lennart Laude
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN ES FR IT
Publicado:	European Papers (www.europeanpapers.eu) 2021
Materias:	eu law legitimacy of eu law european political parties european public spheres institutional structure of the eu digital public spheres Law K Law of Europe KJ-KKZ
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d24c464e579149a9a8a501cfc5a8963c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d24c464e579149a9a8a501cfc5a8963c2021-11-22T14:34:26ZCreating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties2499-824910.15166/2499-8249/517https://doaj.org/article/d24c464e579149a9a8a501cfc5a8963c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/e-journal/creating-european-public-spheres-legitimising-eu-lawhttps://doaj.org/toc/2499-8249(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2021 6(2), 1151-1172 \| Article \| (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. The importance of the public sphere for the democratic legitimacy of law. - III. Conceptualising European public spheres. - III.1. Barriers to European public spheres. - III.2. Adaptations at the EU level. - IV. Status quo of European public spheres. - IV.1. Institutions of the EU's sphere of will formation. - IV.2. The European mass media. - IV.3. The European party system. - IV.4. The impact of the non-existent party system. - IV.5. Interim conclusion. - V. A new role for political parties in the EU. - V.1. A model for the European level: political parties as communicative actors. - V.2. Changing the role of European political parties. - VI. Conclusion. \| (Abstract) The European Union's political response - or the lack thereof - to the current Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced doubts about the future viability of the Union. One of the key issues decreasing the acceptance of the EU is the (perceived) lack of democratic legitimacy of EU law. This Article attempts to assess the causes for this deficit and to develop suggestions to address it. With the objective of evaluating the institutions in the EU's spheres of will formation and the public spheres, it sets out a discourse-theoretical model of democratic legitimacy as a benchmark. To create European public spheres, inclusive transnational processes of opinion formation and law-making must be institutionalised. Under the changed conditions of modern communication, adaptions to account for a fragmentation of discourse and the importance of digital public spheres are necessary; this requires an institutional focus on internet communication at the EU level. An analysis of the status quo reveals that the factual non-existence of a European party system is a decisive factor for the legitimacy deficit of EU law. Without strong European political parties as communicative actors, a void between the EU's procedures of will formation and civil society exists, and European public spheres cannot be created successfully. This structural problem can be addressed, it is argued, by freeing European political parties from the constraints currently imposed by EU law. If they are conceptualised as transnational communicative actors with adequate funding, they can create Europe-an public spheres and help to overcome the legitimacy deficit of the EU.Lennart LaudeEuropean Papers (www.europeanpapers.eu)articleeu lawlegitimacy of eu laweuropean political partieseuropean public spheresinstitutional structure of the eudigital public spheresLawKLaw of EuropeKJ-KKZENESFRITEuropean Papers, Vol 2021 6, Iss 2, Pp 1151-1172 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN ES FR IT
topic	eu law legitimacy of eu law european political parties european public spheres institutional structure of the eu digital public spheres Law K Law of Europe KJ-KKZ
spellingShingle	eu law legitimacy of eu law european political parties european public spheres institutional structure of the eu digital public spheres Law K Law of Europe KJ-KKZ Lennart Laude Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties
description	(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2021 6(2), 1151-1172 \| Article \| (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. The importance of the public sphere for the democratic legitimacy of law. - III. Conceptualising European public spheres. - III.1. Barriers to European public spheres. - III.2. Adaptations at the EU level. - IV. Status quo of European public spheres. - IV.1. Institutions of the EU's sphere of will formation. - IV.2. The European mass media. - IV.3. The European party system. - IV.4. The impact of the non-existent party system. - IV.5. Interim conclusion. - V. A new role for political parties in the EU. - V.1. A model for the European level: political parties as communicative actors. - V.2. Changing the role of European political parties. - VI. Conclusion. \| (Abstract) The European Union's political response - or the lack thereof - to the current Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced doubts about the future viability of the Union. One of the key issues decreasing the acceptance of the EU is the (perceived) lack of democratic legitimacy of EU law. This Article attempts to assess the causes for this deficit and to develop suggestions to address it. With the objective of evaluating the institutions in the EU's spheres of will formation and the public spheres, it sets out a discourse-theoretical model of democratic legitimacy as a benchmark. To create European public spheres, inclusive transnational processes of opinion formation and law-making must be institutionalised. Under the changed conditions of modern communication, adaptions to account for a fragmentation of discourse and the importance of digital public spheres are necessary; this requires an institutional focus on internet communication at the EU level. An analysis of the status quo reveals that the factual non-existence of a European party system is a decisive factor for the legitimacy deficit of EU law. Without strong European political parties as communicative actors, a void between the EU's procedures of will formation and civil society exists, and European public spheres cannot be created successfully. This structural problem can be addressed, it is argued, by freeing European political parties from the constraints currently imposed by EU law. If they are conceptualised as transnational communicative actors with adequate funding, they can create Europe-an public spheres and help to overcome the legitimacy deficit of the EU.
format	article
author	Lennart Laude
author_facet	Lennart Laude
author_sort	Lennart Laude
title	Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties
title_short	Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties
title_full	Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties
title_fullStr	Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties
title_full_unstemmed	Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties
title_sort	creating european public spheres: legitimising eu law through a reconfiguration of european political parties
publisher	European Papers (www.europeanpapers.eu)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d24c464e579149a9a8a501cfc5a8963c
work_keys_str_mv	AT lennartlaude creatingeuropeanpublicsphereslegitimisingeulawthroughareconfigurationofeuropeanpoliticalparties
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Creating European Public Spheres: Legitimising EU Law Through a Reconfiguration of European Political Parties

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