ABSTRACT
This chapter intends to examine the underlying logic (should there be one) of the said line of case law. It ultimately aims to shed some light on the complex interaction between democracy and institutional balance within the current model of democratic control of the external action of the Union. The chapter analyses the degree of autonomy with which the European Court of Justice (ECJ) conceives the operation of the principle of institutional balance in this field. It assesses in what sense and to what extent this principle, inasmuch as constitutional guarantee for the correct functioning of the system, conditions the external action of the European Union (EU). The chapter pays attention to what, in light of the Court's case law, could be defined as the unexplored potential of the direct relationship between institutional balance and the principle of democracy.
