Democracy, representation and Future of Europe. Populist and Eurosceptic views on the reforming of the EU

Abstract

The debate on the Future of Europe initiated by the European Commission with the White Paper on the Future of Europe in 2017 was meant to provide a much-needed feedback on the most preferred solutions for the future shape of European Integration. The debate that followed engaged multiple actors and tackled a series of issues primarily related to the set-up of main institutions of the EU. The key element of these debates was also a question of how the EU is envisaged in terms of the relationship between integration and differentiation and under what conditions differentiation is acceptable, institutionally sustainable and legitimate. The debate triggered also populist and Eurosceptic actors’ reactions on national and supranational level who specifically centred the debate on sovereignty and representation within the EU context. Against this background, this panel’s papers examine the selected populist and Eurosceptic actors’ positions on notions of sovereignty, representation, differentiation and segmentation through their stance on democratic reforms in the European Union and proposals different visions on the future of European integration. Gathered contributions discuss the underlying constitutional-democratic visions of the EU fostered by populist/Eurosceptic actors such as segmented political orders. There is special attention paid to the role of parliaments in these distinctive visions. The discussions on the future of Europe takes place in various arenas, each exemplifying different areas of national and European public sphere(s). However, parliaments (national and European) play a special role in such debates and in mobilizing mass support as they form arenas where M(E)Ps negotiate ideas, opinions, policy proposals and proposals representing interests of their respective (national) constituencies and political parties. They are also growingly an arena where populist claims are presented.

Title	Details
Political representation, parliamentarism and the “crisis” of democracy in Europe: How the constant crisis in the EU conceptually shapes policy-making	View Paper Details
A Cloud on the Horizon? Right-wing Eurosceptic MEPs on the Future of Europe	View Paper Details
Outing ‘the others’: Towards populist segmented orders	View Paper Details
Protecting sovereignty, but how? Visegrad Four populist and Eurosceptic narratives on the future of the European project	View Paper Details
Coherent or incoherent? Italian sovereignist parties in front of supranational crisis management	View Paper Details