Reassessing Democratic Legitimacy in the EU: Towards an Epistemic interpretation

In this paper, in turn, I advance two claims. On the one hand, I explore the normative case for defending EU legitimacy, while giving up the goal of a greater integration of the various peoples of Europe. On the other hand, I argue that an alternative interpretation of legitimacy in the EU may ground on the constructive function of deliberation and of its knowledge-producing capacity. With these ideas in mind, even a quick look at the content of the political debate in the member states seems to confirm that the development of a European public sphere, the growth of an international and vibrant epistemic community, the formation of a dynamic economic diplomacy, the consolidation of technical and bureaucratic administration have created a system of check, balances and constitutional adjudications that, for the citizens of the member states, makes easier to try to figure out which decision would be the best for their country, to control the cogency of national parties’ political manifestos and, that, eventually, gives them patterns and motivations to verify and falsify what their fellow citizens are saying.