Democratic Legitimacy of the Economic and Monetary Union: Parliaments in Interaction with Constitutional, EU and International Law
Abstract
The article discusses the use of EU law, international law and national law instruments and institutions in the course of the Eurozone debt crisis from the point of view of their implications for the democratic legitimacy and parliamentary control. In particular, it deals with the parliamentary control of the European Stability Mechanism and of the European Semester.
It also mentions the developing plans for a deeper economic and monetary union. The article tries to distinguish between measures that are best legitimised and controlled by the European Parliament and by the national parliaments, respectively.
These two channels of legitimation cannot mechanically substitute one another. In some cases, resorting to international law may be an effective solution and it does not necessarily compromise democratic legitimacy.