Keywords: European Semester; Democracy; Delegation with accountability; Nondominance; Reflexive learning.
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.