| ThedebateonthedemocraticlegitimacyoftheEUhasbynowaccumulatedaremarkableamountoffindingsandinsights.CommontothosewhostresstheincomparabilityoftheEUandthenationstates—andarequicktopointoutthefallacyofsubjectingtheEUtothedemocraticcriteriaofitscomponentmemberstates—isthetendencytohighlighttheEU’sefficientregulatoryroleasawaytodefenditsdemocraticlegitimacy.IfwetreattheEUaswhatitreallyis—namelythefourthbranchofmemberstategovernmentsratherthanafull-fledgedpolity,thenthecriticismthattheEUlacksdemocraticlegitimacyisclearly,goestheargument,basedonquestionableground.TheEUisalreadythefourthbranchinmanyaspects.Butdoesthisroleprovideitlegitimacy?Thispaperarguesthat,performingidenticalfunctionsas(orevensupersedes)thefourthbranchofmemberstategovernmentsintermsofproblem-solvingabilityandefficiencydoesnotmaketheEUasdemocraticallylegitimateasindependentagenciesinmemberstategovernments.Threespecificreasonsarediscussedinthispaper.Firstofall,independencedoesnotautomaticallytranslateintoparetoefficiency.Whilethisistrueindomesticcontextaswell,thenon-paretoresultsproducedbytheEUcumindependentagencywillhavemoreseverenegativeimpactthanthoseproducedbyindependentagenciesinastate.Secondly,representationisstillrelevantevenasindependentagenciesarecalledfortoresolveparticularproblems.Independentagenciesworkwellindomesticcontextbecauseoftheirrelationshipwiththerepresentativeaspectofthegovernmentanchoredinafixeddemos.Finally,thesuccessoftheEU-as-fourth-branchthesisdependsonaclearseparationbetweenregulatorypoliciesandredistributivepolicies.Aslongasregulatorypoliciesarestillredistributiveinnature,thethesiswillnotbeabletosuccessfullyexplainawaythelegitimacyproblem.SortingoutwhethertheEUcanbeseenasthefourthbranchofmemberstategovernmentsiscrucialtotheEU’sfuturedevelopments.IftheEU-as-fourth-branchthesisisvalid,thenthecurrenteffortstopoliticizeEuropeanaffairsandengageinEuropeancitizensaredetrimentaltotheEUgovernanceandoughttobereplacedbyanapproachthatguardstheindependenceanddistanceoftheUnion. |