Abstract

Democracy as «delegation with accountability» fundamentally indicates that it is up to the sovereign demos to decide towards what goals public resources are collected and spent. The European Semester (ES) aims at coordinating such decisions by entrusting them to an intergovernmental body (Council) and their enforcement to a supranational agency (Commission) according to politico-economic strategies that are not jointly discussed by the several national principals. Both European and national parliaments are sidelined in this process, potentially leaving the citizenries of Europe affected by externalities produced by other demoi, without being able to register their preferences and ideas and devoiding the ES of its reflexive learning potential. A new notion of democracy as «non-dominance» may be better suited for an interconnected context such as the ES.