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Introduction: European politics nowadays ] 19
citizens on the basis of their interest in European-level debates. Many think
that any such interest can only be generated along genuine political conflicts,
which make citizens participate in public deliberations. Today, the main
conflicts in European-level political debates seem to revolve around the
issues of sovereignty, identity, and solidarity (Grande and Hutter 2016, 12).
These certainly hold a degree of emotional mobilisation capacity, but are not
directly connected to European citizens’ daily lives enough that they could
have a real impact on their level of political engagement.
Not only is the degree of politicisation of EU-related matters being debated
among EU scholars, but also whether the politicisation of European integration
is a positive trend to encourage, or a negative trend to prevent. Some share
the opinion of Stefano Bartolini that in the lack of solid political structures
in place to avoid unmanageable tensions and conflicts, any politicisation
of the Union may overwhelm its weak platform, presenting a major risk
for European integration at large (Bartolini 2006; see also Magnette and
Papadopoulos 2008). Others think that the politicisation of the EU is neither
good, nor bad per se; or that this question has become redundant anyway, as
the politicisation of European integration should be accepted as an irreversible
fait accompli.
THE NATIONAL POLITICS LEVEL
The European Unions legitimacy crisis, and its politicisation, is strongly
intertwined with national political dynamics at the level of its Member States.
This brings us to a controversy: the voices calling for politicisation at the EU
level are contradicted by voices calling for depoliticisation at the national
level - often from the same mouths. This contributes to a view shared by
many, including your author, that enhancing the democratic legitimacy of
the EU cannot be achieved through the simple imitation of national political
structures at the European level. EU crises are only one source of the political
malaise across the continent, which is also rooted in social and political
transformations and unease at the national level. We will look into these
by focusing on a few subjectively selected pieces of the jigsaw, without the
ambition of presenting the full picture.
a. Changing societies
When discussing the state of European societies, an inevitable subject
that comes to the forefront is demographic decline. The renowned Italian
demographer Massimo Livi-Bacci suggests that five demographic trends
deserve particular attention in this regard: the decline of mortality and
increasing life expectancy; the decline of fertility rates below the replacement