dc.description.abstract | The book contains a thorough analysis of the European Union institutional system
as a specific, sui generis international organisation, in the context of its legitimization
(its validity and legitimacy). The book is mainly theoretical. Primarily, the author aims
at presenting a reliable depiction of the EU institutional system legitimization through
the prism of the theoretical output concerning legitimization of the political power,
including and accentuating the indicated specificity of the EU as a distinct international
organisation. Secondly, he took into consideration the changes introduced into
the legal foundations of the EU functioning, pursuant to the Lisbon Treaty – the latest
treaty reforming the structures of the Union. In the context of the main theme of the
present study, these changes are important not only in terms of the EU institutions
themselves, i.e. their competences and reciprocal relations, but also with regard to the
fundamental change of the legal character of the EU, and the alterations introduced
into the individual Union politics. Thirdly, the author attempts to present the problem
of the EU institutional system legitimization in the special circumstances, i.e. in the
situation of the most profound economic crisis that the EU members have faced since
the beginning of the integration process.
The EU is regarded as a specific structure, being neither a state nor a typical international
organisation. Such an approach was the starting point for the main premise of
the present book – the idea that the thesis about the deficiency of democracy in the EU,
formulated in the literature on the subject and in the public debate, is a certain simplification,
and the characteristic features of the EU and its institutions, which provoked
the formulation of such a thesis, should be considered in a broader context, such as the
problem of the EU institutional system legitimization and, alternatively, the deficiency of
that legitimization. For the direct democratic legitimization is only one of many sources
of legitimacy of the EU institutional system and of the Union as a specific international
organisation in general – an extremely important source, perhaps the most important,
yet not the only one. Thus, the legitimization of the EU and its institutions should be
analysed in a broader perspective, which also includes other sources of legitimization – as
it is done in case of every political power which, striving for its legitimization to be as
strong as possible, attempts to derive it from the largest number of sources. According
to the author of the book, to base the EU institutional system legitimization only on
the grounds of the direct democratic legitimization characteristic of a democratic state, would be tantamount to a certain disruption of the right order. It would rather be a
symptom of too advanced an integration on the “institutional” level in comparison to
the extent of the “material” integration. Until the EU is a structure sui generis, in which
case it is a combination of features characteristic of an intergovernmental, international
organisation, a supranational organisation or a state, the nature of legitimization of
this structure should also be specific. The most important role should be played by
the democratic legitimization, which should be completed with other sources, owing
to which the functioning of the EU institutional system, and the whole EU, could be
recognised as legally valid.
Apart from the main thesis also other theses and hypotheses are posed in the book.
The first chapter is a certain theoretical introduction and a basis to the deliberations
presented in the further parts of this study. In the first subsection, with reference to
the literature on the subject, the problem of legitimization (legitimacy) of the political
power, i.e. the concept, classifications and sources of legitimization (legitimacy) of the
political power, have been synthetically depicted. In another part of chapter one, the
author attempts to relate the problem of legitimization to the EU as a specific international
organisation and to formulate his own definition of legitimization deficiency
with regard to EU institutional system. Bearing in mind that the problem of legitimization
deficiency in the EU (EC) has not been discussed on a larger scale until certain
stage of development of integration process was reached, in 1.3. subsection, the author
raises some questions concerning: the sufficiency of legitimization of the integration
process during the first few decades after the Second World War, the grounds for that
legitimization and the reasons why, at a certain stage of the EU (EC) development the
legitimization of the Union’s institutional system started to be considered insufficient,
which was manifested in the opinions acknowledging the democracy and legitimization
deficiency. The first chapter ends with a passage devoted to the importance of
the EU institutional system legitimization, whereas the significance of legitimization to
the political power and political institutions in general, consitutes its reference point.
The second chapter (subsections 2.3.–2.8.) presents a synthesis of the evolution
of the EU (EC) institutional system in the context of its legitimization, from the moment
of the EC founding treaties ratification, till the time the changes pursuant to the
Lisbon Treaty were introduced. The author focused here mainly on the competences of
the particular EC (EU) institutions and their reciprocal relations, which should make
it possible to observe two main tendencies in the dynamics of changes taking place in
this field, and present its specificity and distinctiveness in comparison to the systems
of democratic states. At the beginning of this chapter, a thesis has been formulated
(simultaneously, becoming an extension of the attempt to determine why, at a certain
stage of the integration process, the issue of democracy/legitimization deficiency started
to be discussed – a question that was raised in the first chapter), which states that the
legitimization of the EU institutional system will be sufficient, if the law regulations
and political practice of their functioning are convergent with the level of advancement
of the integration process in various spheres of social life; in other words, the “institutional”
integration should correspond with the “material” integration (that is the Union
politics). To that end, the author made an attempt to present, in a synthetized form,
the development of the “material” integration (subsection 2.1.), which he completed
with an analogical endeavour to illustrate the evolution of the EU (EC) institutional
system in the context of its legitimization (subsection 2.9). For in accordance with the
increasingly common approach, the EU institutions are treated as a system, the concept
and principles of which have been presented in 2.2. subsection. In the third chapter, the author presents the EU institutional system in its current
form, that is with the changes introduced under the Lisbon Treaty. Here, the selected
aspects regarding competences and functioning of the particular EU institutions have
been depicted, as well as the relations between them in the context of legitimization.
Additionally, three selected problems regarding the EU institutional system have been
raised, which are especially important in the context of its legitimization (the relation
between the EU institutional system and the institutions of the EU member states, the
question of transparency in the functioning of the EU institutions, as well as the Union
budgets in the consecutive years). In the last subsection (3.9.) the specific features of
the EU institutional system, significant in the context of its legitimization, have been
identified.
The fourth chapter is devoted to the functioning of the EU institutional system in
the perspective of four basic sources of its legitimization, i.e. indirect and technocratic,
direct and democratic, utilitarian, and one consisting of “values”. The chapter ends
with a conclusion outlining the specificity of the EU and its institutional system with
regard to the sources of its legitimization, which is especially important in the context
of the book’s main thesis.
The fifth chapter concerns the problem of legitimization of the EU institutions in
the context of the economic crisis, which the EU member states struggle with since
around the year 2008. The sixth chapter, in turn, regards the so called subjective (empirical,
social) dimension of the EU institutions’ legitimization, that is, the way this
problem is perceived by the citizens of the EU member states. It has been based on the
results of opinion polls conducted for the use of Eurobarometer, from among which
these questions and answers were selected, which could be applied to illustrate the way
the EU citizens perceive the Union institutions in the context of their legitimization.
The closing remarks include the most important conclusions drawn from the conducted
analyses and the potential reforms and modifications of the EU institutional
system, which may allow for the reinforcement of its legitimization, primarily in its
democratic aspect. The bibliography contains a list of sources which were cited and
referred to in the book. | pl_PL |