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Claims to Legitimacy: The European Commission between Continuity and Change

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  • MYRTO TSAKATIKA

Abstract

This article attempts to spell out the Commission's present position on the following set of questions: according to which normative criteria can European integration, European governance and the Commission's own roles in the two processes be considered legitimate? Taking the 2001 White Paper on Governance as a reference point, it is argued that the Commission is trapped between two sets of claims to legitimacy: one set of claims coming from the Monnet tradition of thought, where the stress is on unity, efficiency, responsibility and impartiality; and a second set of claims coming from the post‐Maastricht critique of the Union, which highlight diversity, clarity and democracy. The result has been that the European Commission entered the recent constitutional debate with a set of proposals that did not do much to strengthen its own position in the Union, or to contribute innovative ideas to the debate, which was meant to deal with the great challenges that lie ahead.

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  • Myrto Tsakatika, 2005. "Claims to Legitimacy: The European Commission between Continuity and Change," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 193-220, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:43:y:2005:i:1:p:193-220
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-9886.2005.00552.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fritz Scharpf, 2002. "Legitimate Diversity: the New Challenge of European Integration," Les Cahiers européens de Sciences Po 1, Centre d'études européennes (CEE) at Sciences Po, Paris.
    2. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2001. "European governance: Common concerns vs. the challenge of diversity," MPIfG Working Paper 01/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
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    5. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2003. "Problem-solving effectiveness and democratic accountability in the EU," MPIfG Working Paper 03/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Andreas Føllesdal, 2004. "Legitimacy Theories of the European Union," ARENA Working Papers 15, ARENA.
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    9. Scharpf, Fritz W., 1998. "Interdependence and democratic legitimation," MPIfG Working Paper 98/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Rauh, Christian, 2022. "Clear messages to the European public? The language of European Commission press releases 1985–2020," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-19.
    3. Finke, Barbara, . "Civil society participation in EU governance," Living Reviews in European Governance (LREG), Institute for European integration research (EIF).
    4. Pamela Pansardi & Pier Domenico Tortola, 2022. "A “More Political” Commission? Reassessing EC Politicization through Language," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 1047-1068, July.
    5. Thomas Laloux & Lara Panning, 2021. "Why Defend Something I Don’t Agree with? Conflicts within the Commission and Legislative Amendments in Trilogues," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 40-51.

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