Deficient to the Core? Analyzing Democratic Deficiency in the Primary Institutions of the European Union

In studies of the European Union, a growing body of literature has sought to explore the issue of if the EU has a ‘democratic deficit,’ in what ways such a deficit manifests, and if such a concern can or should be resolved. After justifying a nation-state model for the EU, and the significance of resolving deficiencies, this paper argues deficiencies can be found due to a lack of citizen input in the EU executive, an opaque Council of Ministers, and European Parliament elections being ‘second-order.’ Finally, a brief speculatory section finds that the prospects of resolving each deficit varies greatly between cases.