The economic governance of the European Union: activate the emergency brakes?

Abstract

This paper aims to address one issue: the impact of the New Economic Governance (NGE) in the EU on the democratic quality of the European integration process and its legitimacy. The text addresses aspects such as the impact of economic crisis management on citizen confidence in the process of European integration; The end of the idea of European unity as a progressive, incremental and irreversible process. Finally, I will try to show how much the NGE implies a change in the constitutional nature of the Union with severe implications in the democratic quality of the decision-making process.