The EU’s Legitimacy in the Eye of the Beholders.

In this research, The EU’s legitimacy deficit is investigated. The deficit is often refered to as a democratic deficit, but is the reason for the deficit really democratic? Legitimacy is a matter of perception. Therefore newspaper-articles from The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France are analysed in order to determine the reasons for the EU’s legitimacy deficit. This is done on the basis of multi-faceted understanding of legitimacy. The facets distinguished between are dimensions (nationalist and universalist), components (input, throughput, and output) and models (direct and indirect). The conclusion is that rather than a democratic deficit, the EU has a nationalist and a reality deficit, which are increased by the mass media. A more active media policy and more research into the legitimacy of a system of multi-level governance are recommended in order to overcome the deficit.