Exploring EU energy governance and policy under a demoi-cratic lens: citizen participation, output legitimacy and democratic interdependence

ABSTRACT

This paper applies the demoi-cratic theory to EU energy governance and policy, and explores whether the demoi-cratic criteria of equal legislative powers between statespeople and citizens and the supremacy of multilateral law through participatory jurisprudence apply to EU energy affairs. More specifically, it zooms in on democratic pathogenies deriving from lack of citizen engagement in energy policy-making at national, transnational and supranational levels; the impact of the lack of citizen participation on the output legitimacy of energy decisions; and democratic externalities and their consequences in the energy realm. It concludes that energy policy-making fulfils neither of the demoi-cratic criteria. This is due to the top-down mode of EU energy policy, and the dual EU failure to benefit from citizen engagement in the design and implementation of energy policy, and to recognize and deal with the democratic externalities emanating from the heightened democratic interdependence within the EU.

KEYWORDS:

• Demoi-cracy
• democratic deficit
• energy governance
• energy policy
• energy transition
• citizen empowerment