Flexible Transnational Electoral Constituencies to Empower EU Citizens
Calls for a more efficient EU amid increasing crises should create an opportunity to address its 'democratic deficit.'
Calls for a more efficient European Union (EU) vis-à-vis ever more frequent crises should create an opportunity for closing what scholars call its ‘democratic deficit’. Key is new political space for European citizens to elect the European Parliament (EP). Puzzling, all attempts at such a reform have failed. What makes the electoral law to elect the EP so resistant to change, while other EU institutions have been redesigned? The article dwells on the reasons for such rigidity and proposes a procedure to empower European citizens, with Member States joining a new scheme of transnational constituencies and retaining the neutrality vis-à-vis different views on integration held by European political parties.
An Article by Francesco Grillo and Prof. Raffaella Nanetti.
About the Authors: Francesco Grillo is Visiting Scholar at the European University Institute, and Affiliate Professor at Sant’Anna University in Pisa. Raffaella Nanetti is Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and a visiting professor at Luiss University in Rome.
