Abstract
Since the beginning of the 90's and the end of the "permissive consensus", the democratic deficit of the European Union has increasingly become high on the agenda of scholars and decision-makers. Defined as "the growing dissonance between the essential requirements of modern democratic governments and actual conditions of EU management"(Chryssochoou 2003, 366), this democratic deficit undoubtedly shed light on the EU legitimacy. What is the nature of the problem and how can it be solved?
The main democratic criteria traditionally refer to the accountable, transparent, and representative character of the ruling political institutions as well as the support of the people (Eriksen and Fossum 2002, 401). If the parliament as a deliberative and representative political body of decision-making central is thus central to legitimate working of the EU (Gabel 2003, 290), the strength and the support of the public sphere are also strongly constituent of the democratic dynamic of such a institutional and political entity.
As pointed by Chryssochoou (2003, 366-374), the democratic deficit of the EU can be thus seen through an "institutional perspective", the lack of power of the European Parliament, and through a "socio-psychological perspective", the weakness of the support of the people. Both perspectives are actually strongly related to each other: the effective power of the Parliament improves the support of the people while this increasing support reinforces the legitimacy and the position of the legislative body.
