ABSTRACT
The sphere we call public is an area of public space. This is well reflected in the manner in which Habermas uses the word ‘Öffentlichkeit’ in the sense of ‘openness’ or ‘publicity’ to represent the notion of public space. In this public space, matters are ipso facto conducted ‘in public’. Publics form themselves around visible and audible focuses of attention (Hannay 2005: 33). Public deliberation and/or debate can be considered the single most important element in the assessment of democratic quality. In an open public debate, decision-makers are forced to give reasons, and this enhances transparency and public accountability (Eriksen and Fossum 2000: 17). The term ‘public’ and the principle of publicity are often subsumed under the concept of ‘transparency’ in the context of debates in the European Union. Brewer’s Politics even defines the term ‘transparency’ as ‘the catch word for the openness of the operations of the European Community to the public gaze’.1
