The Copenhagen hope: on democracy in the EU

... national parliaments and signed by heads of state. It is also ignorant to deny the inherent political nature of the post-Lisbon European Union and that therefore the state of democracy in a member state affects the state of democracy in the Union as a whole.... ... see itself as a normative power, one that sets and promotes the norm - that is, of course, the basic values: democracy, the rule of law, and human rights including the rights of minorities - if one or more of its members, and therefore the Union as such,...