DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY OR DELIBERATIVE SUPRANATIONALISM? PRELIMINARY INSIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE
DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY OR DELIBERATIVE SUPRANATIONALISM? PRELIMINARY INSIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: The goal of this article is to assess the effectiveness of deliberative democratic mechanisms in the practice of international organization, with the Conference on the Future of Europe serving as the main object of the study. The analysis is focused on a comparison of the usefulness of two concepts (deliberative democracy and deliberative supranationalism) to the analysis of the EU political decision–making. On the basis of both approaches four hypotheses are formulated and initially verified. The dependent variables of the hypotheses are confronted with the essential features of the course and follow–up of the Conference in the first year after its conclusion. The most important results of the study include four findings. Firstly, the structure of the Conference did not fully correspond to the assumptions of the concept of deliberative democracy, while – secondly – the substantial quality of the Conference’s proposals was low. Thirdly, one year after the conclusion of the Conference, no interinstitutional debate on the implementation of its proposals has started. Fourthly, there is no inter-state discussion on the results of the Conference, no Convention is planned, and support for introducing treaty changes is low. So far, the only measurable results of the Conference are minor non–treaty reforms proposed by the Commission. Therefore, the introduction of the principles of deliberative democracy at the EU level proved to be an ineffective step. If the activity of the Union is considered in deliberative terms, then the concept of deliberative supranationalism is more useful here. After the Conference, the EU turned out still to be an international organization in which major decisions on reforms are taken by the governments of the member states.

• Details
• Contents