Suspending democracy? The governance of the EU’s political and economic crisis as a process of neoliberal restructuring

The economic crisis of the European Union (EU) is threatening also the fragile foundations of European democracy. It is not, however, as it might seem, a transitional stage of ‘authoritarianism of emergency’ due to the severity of the crisis and the need to face it as quickly as possible. Conversely, as this chapter aims to demonstrate, the economic choices made in recent years, the policies imposed on States and European citizens, as well as the method chosen to implement these policies – in brief, what this essay defines as the ‘economic governance’ of the EU – can be read as a further step towards its neoliberalization. This new constitutionalism of the EU is based on a twofold development: on the one hand, the onward de-democratization of European politics, with the substitution of democracy with forms of neoliberal governance; on the other hand, the onward de-politicization of European economy, based on the empowerment of unelected bodies, such as the European Central Bank (ECB), and the marginalization of elected representatives. The chapter describes the neoliberal restructuring of the EU and national states both on the political and economic level, by analysing the EU’s responses to its democratic deficit and the role played by the ECB in the economic and financial crisis.