A long-term comparison of the Europeanisation of political parties in the Netherlands and Denmark, 1999-2019

The Lisbon treaty from 2009 fundamentally changed the workings of the European Union, taking a big semi-constitutional leap towards a multi-national parliamentary system. For this constitutional framework to be democratically effective, we need political agents that are able to fulfil the role of legitimate representatives. In modern democracies, and particularly in multilevel systems, political parties constitute this vital link between citizens and political decision making. Parallel with Lisbon’s constitutional developments, numerous political crises have emerged in Europe, highlighting both the EU’s influence on citizens’ daily lives, as well as its obvious shortcomings. These developments of politicisation and parliamentarisation of the EU imply and necessitate an expansion of the role of the political parties, which in turn should mean that these parties evolve and Europeanise. It is not far-fetched to argue that the constitutional development and the recurrent crises invite parties to become more aware of and proactive on the intra-party as well as inter-party relationships between the national level and the EU-level. Based on unique empirical material, the aim of this article is to delve further into this assumption. Have national political parties become more efficient in coordinating between the national level and its agents in Brussels? Do political parties fulfil their role in ‘linking the levels’ and thereby legitimising decision making at the EU-level? And what lessons can we learn from this for the future of EU democracy?