European integration has taken a toll on democracy. There is rather widespread consensus that the European Union (EU) suffers from a malaise that has commonly been known as a democratic deficit. The paper aims however to contribute to this debate from a perspective that has so far been somewhat eclipsed thus-far: what role do non-elected officials play within parliaments, the “havens of representative democracy”? The analysis will build on observations from administrators within national parliaments in the quest of implementing of the Lisbon provisions and selected case studies within the European Parliament. The latter reveal that non-elected officials can under certain conditions play a pivotal role within that institution. The main question at stake here is thus whether the European Union is facing an “unrepresentative” turn due to the “empowerment” of unelected officials, or whether there are other factors that might foster this development.
