ABSTRACT
For many years, democratic legitimacy was not an issue within the European Union (EU). Since there were no major questions about its state of democracy, there was no broad debate either. The legitimate national governments controlled the decision making process, whereas unanimity ensured consensus about the decisions made, 'eaving the democratic legitimacy at the national level intact'. Democratic legitimacy is thus vested by the indirect participation of EU's citizens by their legitimate authorities. This chapter further examines the democratic legitimacy of the common monetary policy and the coordination of the fiscal policy of the European member states using the academic debate on EU's democratic legitimacy. In such cases, it is a widespread practice to give instrumental autonomy to a group of experts on a specific issue, to guarantee desirable outcomes. When it comes to acceptability, the focus should accordingly be on the substantive aspects. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion on the improvement of democratic legitimacy of economic governance.
