A systematic justification for the EU's pouvoir constituant mixte: Principles of constitutional politics in supranational polities

Publisher： John Wiley & Sons Inc

E-ISSN： 1468-0386|23|6|441-453

ISSN： 1351-5993

Source： EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Vol.23, Iss.6, 2017-11, pp. : 441-453

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Abstract

AbstractThis article presents a rational reconstruction of the practice of constitutional politics in supranational polities. In doing so, it seeks to refocus the ongoing debate about constituent power in the EU on the question of who, under what conditions, is entitled to decide on the EU constitutional order. The analysis leads to a number of principles of democratic legitimacy, which include the political autonomy of the members of the state demoi as well as the political autonomy of the members of a cross‐border demos. In explicating these parallel entitlements to political autonomy, I provide a systematic justification for the notion of a pouvoir constituant mixte, according to which the citizens should take control of EU constitutional politics in two roles: as European citizens and as Member State citizens.