Transnationalising the public sphere? The European Parliament, promises and anticipations

It is conventional wisdom that the European Union is short of a truly democratic transnational public sphere, conceived of as a ‘space for the communicative generation of public opinion, in ways that are supposed to ensure (at least some degree of) moral-political validity’ (Fraser 2005: 37). Yet it remains controversial as to whether such a transnational communicative sphere is necessary, desirable and feasible for the EU, and what it eventually should look like.