{"id":21700,"date":"2026-09-22T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T10:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/?p=21700"},"modified":"2026-09-21T15:46:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T13:46:47","slug":"tijd-voor-europese-democratisering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/tijd-voor-europese-democratisering\/","title":{"rendered":"Time for European democratisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Autocratisation is on the rise in EU candidate countries and the far right is gaining ground in the Member States, yet the European Union\u2019s own democratic deficit remains unmentioned in von der Leyen\u2019s State of the Union address. With the escalations by Russia and the imminent accession of Ukraine and Moldova, the EU and its Member States can no longer ignore the issue: the debate on how to reform the Union democratically and counter anti-democratic forces must be revived.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A European Security Council, Canada as the EU\u2019s first \u2018partner Member State\u2019 and a ban on social media use by young children \u2013 these were the headlines that dominated the news surrounding the State of the Union address by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Understandably, security and a decisive European Union, independent of unpredictable nations (read: Trump), featured prominently in the German politician\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

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Democratic deficit<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the elephant in the room was left unmentioned. The EU has always struggled with a significant democratic deficit. In the last European Parliament elections, turnout was just 50.7%. Barely more people \u2013 52% \u2013 say they have confidence in the European Union, according to a Eurobarometer survey. This lack of support is even more pronounced in non-urban areas. Precisely now that the accession of countries such as Moldova and Ukraine is moving ever higher up the political agenda (only 56% are in favour of EU enlargement), it is more important than ever that the democratic deficit is addressed. The European project, often hailed as the very beacon of stability, freedom and democratic values in the world, cannot be satisfied with such poor results. At a time when the far right is on the rise, as we are currently seeing in Germany, it is crucial that a dialogue finally gets underway to put European democratisation on the agenda.<\/p>\n

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The rise of the far right<\/strong><\/p>\n

The victories of populist scapegoating politics in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are yet further evidence of a trend that can be seen not only in Europe but all over the world: the far right is on the rise. Marginalised groups, freedom of expression, judges and journalists are paying the price. Yet the response from the political establishment remains invariably the same: first shock, then a strongly worded condemnation, only to subsequently revert to the same old politics that actually enable the rise of the far right. The tactics of the AfD, the PVV or Marine Le Pen go beyond merely capitalising on xenophobic gut feelings. They exploit the sense of incomprehension and the distance people feel from politics. Put simply: many people do not feel represented, and the far right is only too happy to step into that gap.<\/p>\n

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Wake-up call<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the EU in particular, this should not merely be a cause for indignant statements, but an urgent wake-up call. The longer the Union puts off the debate on democratic reforms, the more ground far-right movements in Europe will gain. That debate should take place not only within the European institutions, but also, and indeed primarily, within the Member States. In response to the Russian invasion and hybrid attacks on the European continent, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine applied for EU membership in 2022. The advanced stage of negotiations with the latter two countries heralds a new era for the EU. The Union and its Member States must seize this moment to breathe new life into the debate on democratic reforms.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Autocratisering van EU-kandidaatlanden neemt toe en extreemrechts rukt op in de lidstaten, toch blijft het democratisch tekort van de Europese Unie zelf onbenoemd in de State of the Union speech van von der Leyen. Met de Russische escalaties en de naderende toetreding van Oekra\u00efne en Moldavi\u00eb kunnen de EU en haar lidstaten er niet langer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy","location-europese-unie","region-eu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21700"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21709,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21700\/revisions\/21709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}