Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
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In her study on the influence of the eu on the political systems of the member
states, Schmidt (2006) shows that the rise of the populist discourse on
Europe is symptomatic of the legitimacy problems faced by European policymakers.
In order to give genuine legitimacy to the multi-layered European
political system, with its new political and administrative practices,
politicians face the equally difficult task of developing the right vocabulary
in their communications and debates with their own citizens, which ultimately
distances itself from traditional conceptions of democracy, power,
authority and influence based on the nation-state. This forces them to
clearly state the reasons for and consequences of the processes of Europeanisation
which has increasingly led to power being shared with ‘Brussels’.
Most of them are unwilling to do this, however, because in the short term
the political cost is greater than the benefits. Instead, many politicians talk
and act as if they still have access to all the traditional levers of national
power, and citizens are still able to hold them accountable in all of these
domains. This dilemma is illustrated by the actions of former German
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who found himself caught between European
Commission demands that in order to join emu, Germany had to
adhere to a 3% budget deficit norm as stipulated in the Stability Pact, and
a German public which holding him accountable for rising unemployment
and falling economic growth. Schröder ultimately opted – along with his
French counterpart, Chirac, who was in a similar predicament – to ignore
the agreements set out in the Pact and to press for renegotiations (Schmidt
2006: 30). In taking this step, however, he was jeopardising the credibility
of the Stability Pact in the eyes of the public in the rest of the Eurozone, with
all of the possible related negative consequences on the public’s confidence
in the eu. Sometimes, however, political leaders are simply unable to convey
the motives for the particular choices they make in relation to Europe,
because they are still too accustomed to regarding eu policy as the technical,
relatively uncontroversial preserve of administrative and functional elites
and too little as a battle for political ideas and power. The increasing politicisation
of new European policy issues and the calls for more political representation
and accountability mean that it is precisely these politicians who
have the most difficulty in gaining or maintaining the support and trust of
their citizens (Schmidt 2006: 261).
2.4 changes in the dutch legitimisation of eu policy
2.4.1 the traditional method of legitimisation
It was noted above that the traditional method of legitimising eu policy is
coming under increased pressure. There is a need for new sources of legitimacy
that can alongside the old legitimacy processes based on tangible