O prednáške
(Public lecture – Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice – 17.2.2026 – Centre for Religious Studies in cooperation with Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and the organization Res Publica)
European democracy is in crisis: since long time now, citizens across the continent have been distrustful of national and European institutions, as well as political elites. This is also a result of the EU’s democratic deficit: the European Parliament, elected by the European people, has no real power of legislative initiative, and conflicting reasons of state influence the Council. As a result, the EU is unable to act as it could with more democratic supranational governance that takes into account the European people as a whole. We have a common market, but no common social policy for the whole continent, and this is undermining the legitimacy of the EU, favouring national-populist forces in all Member States, which are calling for the return of national sovereignty. But no Member State will be able to save itself from the increasingly dangerous global disorder unless it acts together with others in cooperation to move towards a stronger democratic Union, capable of realising its strategic autonomy and keep alive the prospect of a peaceful world governed by the rule of law, instead of violence.
Without continuous popular pressure on the Council and other EU institutions, Europe will not take further decisive steps in the necessary direction.
There is therefore an urgent need to rethink the role of European people: especially in times of great uncertainty, citizens’ involvement in decision-making becomes crucial to strengthening our democracies, through innovative instruments of participatory, direct and deliberative democracy, beyond the nation state. What would happen if ordinary people from across Europe were brought together to deliberate on the common good, beyond party divisions and national borders? The European Citizens‘ Panels – launched during the Conference on the Future of Europe – which bring together citizens selected at random from across the continent and from all walks of life, are a little positive step in this direction, paving the way for the potential establishment of a permanent European Citizens‘ Assembly as a complementary pillar to EU representative democracy. This process could finally lead to the emergence of a transnational civic constituent power capable of shaping a truly European demos – or even a European nation – with its own democratic supranational constitution.
