When Portugal applied to join the European Economic Community, it did so essentially for internal reasons – its primary objective was consolidating its national democracy. However, there is currently a debate regarding whether the European project has not itself been the primary threat to democracy in the various member states.
Not only is it debatable whether the European institutions are democratic, but also whether further deepening of European democracy is incompatible with preserving the national democracy of each member state.
The debate brings together Wolfgang Streeck, director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, and Vivien A. Schmidt, professor at Boston University.
Conferences that bring together leading national and international experts on topics ranging from ethics to issues, from women to young people, from social security to ageing, from economics to science and the universe.
