The Federal Model and Europe's Reality: A Crisis of Legitimacy and its Overcoming

Abstract

This analysis focuses on the role of the federal Europe model in the present
stage of the European integration. The European Union' appropriate
constitutional form primarly depends on a political decision. Such a
decision must be based on democratic legitimacy conferred by political
nations of the member states, and not on a delusionary conception of the
European demos. If the politicians decide to continue European integration,
a federal structure for European decision making must be established, with
its typical features: subsidiarity and a clear division of competences.
Contrary to the traditional federative models, both German and American,
the European federal model cannot be based on the concept of a federal
nation. The individual political nations will remain the source of its
sovereignity. As a result we can talk of federal elements without a
federation, or of a consociative federation without a federal state concept.