How to democratize Europe

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface to the English Edition -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part One. Another Europe Is Possible -- 1. The Euro-ization of Europe: The Extra-mural Rise of the Government of the Euro and the Redefinition of the 'European Project' -- 2. On the Legal Feasibility of a Treaty to Democratize the Governance of the Euro Area -- 3. What Would the Parliamentary Assembly of the Euro Area Look Like? -- 4. What to Do if Some Member States Reject the Proposed Treaty? -- Part Two. Draft Treaty on the Democratization of the Governance of the Euro Area (T-Dem ) -- 5. Explanatory Statement -- 6. Draft Treaty on the Democratization of the Governance of the Euro Area (T-Dem ) -- Part Three. Debate Now! -- 7. Europe's Constituent Moment -- 8. Ten Thoughts on the Treaty Democratizing the Euro Area (T-Dem) -- 9. For a Demoicratization of Eurozone Governance -- 10. The European Parliament Is the Parliament of the Euro Area -- 11. A Eurozone Congress -- 12. The Economy Is a Polity: Implications for the New Modes of Economic Governance in the EU -- 13. In Search of Lost Sovereignty -- 14. Reconciling Democratic Sovereignty with Economic and Monetary Integration: T-Dem in Dialogue with the German Constitutional Court -- 15. Citizen-Based Paths of Democratization for the EU without New Treaty Making -- Part Four. Rejoinders -- 16. The T-Dem: Why? How? -- 17. European Parliamentary Sovereignty on the Shoulders of National Parliamentary Sovereignties -- 18. Europeanizing Politics, Politicizing Europe -- 19. Manifesto for the Democratization of Europe -- Glossary -- Contributors -- Index.

The European Union has long suffered from a lack of democratic accountability. In the past decade, the problem has become particularly acute in the economic management of the Eurozone, the 19 countries of the E.U. that use the Euro (nine members don't). At present, the central institution for management of the Eurozone is the Eurogroup, an informal body led by national finance ministers who report neither to the European Parliament nor to national parliaments but coordinate their activities with the Troika, that is, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Council. Critics accuse the Eurogroup both of lack of transparency and of consistently putting the interests of the rich northwest ahead of the interests of poorer and smaller nations in the east and south. In How to Democratize Europe, four distinguished French scholars describe the diverse problems of the Eurozone and propose a treaty that would establish a parliament for economic policy consisting of selected members of national parliaments. Various contributors then respond to the proposal with support, criticism, or ideas for alternatives.--