ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that there is, in fact, a European context of justice and democracy comparable to that of the nation-state. It then elaborates the idea of functional equivalents and analyses the institutional innovations created by the European integration project that are relevant from a democratic perspective. These innovations involve different types of checks and have democratic merits to a varied degree. Moreover, they respond to the challenge posed by the statists, namely that one can expect competition with regard to which entity rightfully possesses final authority when democracy is institutionalized above the nationstate. The principle of democracy applies wherever there is dominance, namely a power of arbitrary interference or arbitrary sources of injustice. The European integration process has affected nation-states' democracy and has Europeanized their legal bases. The construction comes equipped with a conditional licence from the Member States, namely that the established structure and further integrative moves must comply with human rights and democratic norms.
