Time to rethink EU democracy

As the pandemic adds to the pressure on democracy worldwide, there is a growing sense of the urgent need to protect democracy and its institutions in a concerted and coordinated manner. On both sides of the Atlantic, growing domestic threats to democracy have added to the external challenges, but also offer global momentum for stronger democratic alliances. In their June 2021 joint summit statement, the EU and the US pledged to support democracy across the globe. As international flagships of democracy, meanwhile, both the European Parliament and the US Congress are strongly engaged in advancing democracy in third countries.

Source : © European Union, 2021 – EP

The Conference on the Future of Europe is an exercise in democracy, and at the same time, the main theme of the Conference is European democracy. But the problem is broader: democracy itself is in crisis, write Herman Van Rompuy and Žiga Turk.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a more agile EU during the launch of the Convention on the Future of Europe in Strasbourg on Sunday. “The only answer to authoritarianism is the authority of democracy” which “can only be won…

Last month, European lawmakers proclaimed the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programmes as the largest ever amount of EU funding dedicated to promoting the bloc’s values such as democracy and fundamental rights.