The Establishment of the EU as a Democratic International Organisation

Defining the new concept

Although proponents of the Westphalian system of International Relations continue to emphasize that the ideas of democratic values on the one hand and international organisations on the other hand are incompatible, the ongoing evolution of the European Union has made it possible to define the concept of democratic international organisations in clear and unambiguous terms: 

A democratic international organisation is a union of states and citizens in  which the union has to comply with similar standards of respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law as the member states are required to meet.

Obviously, the existence of a new phenomenon in the real world can no longer be denied after it has been defined.  this blog will proceed with a concise analysis of the events which have strengthened the EU’s own and distinct character after the first signalisation in January 2022 to such an extent that the conclusion is warranted that the Union has established itself as a democratic international organisation indeed. 

The Conditionality Verdicts

In hindsight, it is tempting to suggest that the blog foreboded the impending developments. Hardly a month after its publication, the EU Court of Justice confirmed the EU’s evolution to a new kind of international organisation ex cathedra. In its verdicts of 16 February 2022 concerning the utterly ‘Westphalian’ complaints of Poland and Hungary against the introduction of a conditionality mechanism in the context of the COVID Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Luxembourg Court not only concluded that the EU has outgrown the prevailing template but also explained how the process had taken place. The Court observed that the member states have first agreed on their common values and have subsequently applied these common values to their organisation (Cases Hungary and Poland v Parliament and Commission C-156/21 and C-57/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:97 and 98). This groundbreaking result has not been achieved overnight, but the effect of the incremental process is that the EU has squared the circle by reconciling the concepts of democratic values and international organisation. Although it was presumed to be theoretically impossible, the EU proved in practice that international organisations can function democratically! 

External threats

The interplay between legal and political developments in the evolution of the EU was highlighted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine a week later. While this act of aggression induced the Council of Europe to expel Russia, the member states of the EU reacted by strengthening their common identity and their resolve to face the renewed threat as a polity rather than as a heterogenous group of separate sovereign states. In the subsequent years, however, their resolve was tested by individual member states eager to further short-term national interests at the expense of the effectiveness of common policies. The fact that these member states are entitled to ‘weaponize’ their national vetoes in times of war, highlights the challenges inherent in the evolution from a union of states to a democratic international organisation. 

The EU’s model of constitutional democracy  

 Although these challenges are real and continue to pose existential threats, they should not distract from the underlying trend towards further democratisation of the EU www.boomdenhaag.nl/webshop/the-democratisation-of-the-european-union The democratic imperative informing the process of European integration, holds that, if two or more democratic states agree to share the exercise of sovereignty in ever wider fields in order to attain common goals, their organisation should be democratic too. While the theoretical trend is clear, the practical implications may sometimes surprise member states and stakeholders. The recent verdict of the ECJ in the case of the Maltese golden passports underlines that the member states have to take the interests of the polity into account in the formulation and implementation of policies in traditionally national domains https://eulawlive.com/op-ed-on-genuine-links-burdens-of-proof-and-declaration-no-2-some-musings-on-the-courts-reasoning-in-commission-v-malta-c-181-23/ . In the words of Advocate-General Capeta, they must notably ensure that national measures do not significantly deviate from ‘the EU’s model of constitutional democracy, reflected in article 2 TEU (Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-769/22 | Commission v Hungary).   

Conclusion     

In his blog of 18 January 2022, the present author suggested that ‘the European Union is the only international organisation which is composed of states and citizens and which aspires to respect the principles of democracy and the rule of law. As the decisive difference between the EU and other international and regional organisations lies in its construction as a constitutional democracy, the Union may be identified as a democratic international organisation (DIO)’. The subsequent developments sketched above warrant the conclusion that the EU has evolved from the stage of ‘emerging as a democratic international organisation’ to that of establishing itself as such. This evolution should not only be of interest to constitutional lawyers and political theorists but also to policy makers in Brussels and the Capitals. Persisting in their Westphalian slumber may prevent them from defending the EU’s constitutional achievements against the efforts from internal and external adversaries to reduce their democratic union of democratic states to un undemocratic organisation of autocratic states!