A Static or Dynamic Union: Euroscepticism and the Internal Legitimacy of the European Integration

Abstract

The article focuses on the role of the phenomenon of Euroscepticism in the issue of the  legitimacy  of  the  European  Union  (EU),  namely  on  the  relation  between  the  current conceptualisation  of  Euroscepticism  and  the  EU’s  ability  to  operate  „imide“  the  system  as a  credible  actor. The  text  is  based  on  the  analytical  premise  that  the  EU  is  not  a  static  entity modeled  on  a  national  unitary  state  or  federation,  but  a  dynamic  political  system. The  current definition of Euroscepticism, however, is based on the notion of the EU having a static nature and the  existence  of  the  finality  of  European  integration  process,  which  significantly  affects  the  EU political  system’s  ability  to  perform  the  basic  functions  of  a  functioning  political  system  –  in particular the function of evaluation and (re)formulation of policy objectives. The most important consequence of this approach is the inability of the EU to receive any critical feedback and work with it as a relevant political input.