The European Union is in a constitutional crisis - the Lisbon Treaty has temporarily failed due to the Irish vote, and the now 27-member Union must continue to be governed by the rules of the emergency compromise from Nice in 2001. Acceptance of the century project of European integration has reached a low point, and many are lamenting a democratic deficit. Both democratic legitimacy and constitutional foundation are closely linked: only with a bold constitutional reform that would go beyond the Lisbon Treaty could the political construct 'sui generis' that the EU is be satisfactorily legitimized.

This book develops the theoretical foundations of democratic legitimacy and constitutional law and applies them to the EU in 2001. It becomes clear that the EU already possesses many elements of a constitution, but it has, among other issues, a major deficit: it can only be changed by unanimity. But can there be a European people willing to accept genuine majority decisions?.