This thematic issue focuses on how Europe and the European Union are debated, politicized, and contested. A key focus is set on the question of whether and how these debates and politicizations help to democratize the EU, or not. This rationale is based on the assumption that debate is a key democratic activity, and accordingly, “Debating Europe” is one of the bases for a democratic Europe and a democratic EU. This is also the key assumption of the Jean Monnet Network Debating Europe (DebatEU) that is at the outset of the thematic issue (see www.debating-europe.de; Grant No. 620428-EPP-1–2020-1-DE-EPPJMO-NETWORK). The process of debating enhances the legitimacy of the EU not only as a polity, but also as a policy-making process by regaining citizens’ trust in their ability to use political discussions to influence the policy-making process, including a wide range of policy actors.
Wiesner et al. (Tue,) studied this question.