Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/30561
Title: Democracy Before the Court: Democracy as a Justiciable Concept in the EU
Other Titles: Demokratija pred sudom: Demokratija kao pravno primenjiv koncept u EU
Authors: Conway, G
Keywords: democracy;justiciability;Court of Justice;human rights;rule of law;values;conflict of values;demokratija;pravna primenjivost;Sud pravde;ljudska prava;vladavina prava;vrednosti;sukob normi;sukob vrednosti
Issue Date: 30-Jun-2025
Publisher: University of Belgrade Institut za Filozofiju i Drustvenu Teoriju Beograd
Citation: Conway, G. (2025) 'Democracy Before the Court: Democracy as a Justiciable Concept in the EU, Filozofija i drustvo / Philosophy and Society, 36 (2), pp. 357 - 386. doi: 10.2298/FID2502357C..
Abstract: Democracy is a justiciable concept under EU law. Beyond identifying the EU as being a representative democracy, the EU treaties provide relatively little guidance of what democracy entails. The context is the contestedness of the concept of democracy, especially across 27 polities of the Member States of the EU, and the potentially extensive review of national constitutional orders that could result from the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU regarding Article 2 TEU (Treaty on European Union) as a statement of foundational values of the EU. This paper considers, in particular, how the concept of democracy interacts with the other values in Article 2, principally, the rule of law and respect for human rights. The jurisdiction of the Court of Justice under Article 2 highlights the problem of determining the relative importance and interaction of the fundamental values of the EU given their relative incommensurability, including the problems of i. relating democracy at national and supranational levels in the EU and of ii. the limits of democratic authority. It is argued that Article 2 should be understood as presenting a complex problem of the inter-relationship of values for which a method of reflective equilibrium and a threshold test are essential for their application as justiciable concepts. Applying this framework or approach, the final part considers some examples of national practices relating to democracy that could be considered contrary to the values of democracy in EU law and subject to jurisdiction under Articles 2 and 7 TEU: the lengthening of parliamentary terms, recall procedures, and militant democracy.
Apstrakt: Demokratija je pravno primenljiv (justiciabilan) koncept u okviru prava Evropske unije. Iako se EU identifikuje kao predstavnička demokratija, ugovori EU pružaju relativno malo smernica o tome šta demokratija zapravo podrazumeva. Kontekst ovog pitanja je u tome što je sam pojam demokratije predmet sporenja, naročito među 27 političkih sistema država članica EU, kao i u potencijalno širokom preispitivanju nacionalnih ustavnih poredaka koje bi moglo proisteći iz nadležnosti Suda pravde EU u vezi sa članom 2 Ugovora o Evropskoj uniji (TEU), koji predstavlja izjavu o osnovnim vrednostima EU. Ovaj rad se posebno bavi time kako se koncept demokratije prepliće sa ostalim vrednostima iz člana 2, pre svega sa vladavinom prava i poštovanjem ljudskih prava. Nadležnost Suda pravde prema članu 2 naglašava problem određivanja relativne važnosti i međusobne interakcije osnovnih vrednosti EU, imajući u vidu njihovu relativnu neuporedivost. To uključuje i probleme: i. povezivanja demokratije na nacionalnom i nadnacionalnom nivou u EU, i ii. određivanja granica demokratskog autoriteta. U radu se tvrdi da član 2 treba shvatiti kao predstavljanje složenog problema međusobnog odnosa vrednosti, za koji su neophodni metoda reflektivne ravnoteže i test praga kako bi se ti koncepti mogli pravno primeniti. Na osnovu ovog okvira, završni deo rada razmatra neke primere nacionalne prakse u vezi sa demokratijom koje bi se mogle smatrati suprotnim vrednostima demokratije prema pravu EU i koje bi mogle potpasti pod nadležnost prema članovima 2 i 7 TEU-a: produžavanje trajanja mandata parlamenata, postupci opoziva (recall procedures), i koncept “borbene demokratije” (militant democracy).
URI: https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/30561
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/FID2502357C
ISSN: 0353-5738
Other Identifiers: ORCiD: Gerard Conway https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6122-9325
Appears in Collections:Brunel Law School Research Papers

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