Democracy in the European unio‎n and the Treaty of Lisbon

Democracy, one of the basic values of Western politics, has undergone a omprehensive development process still in progress during the course of European integration. Although at the initial phase of the integration, even no hint of democracy was on the fore, it has become one of the most discussed subjects in the unio‎n. With the recent development of the Lisbon Treaty, the question of democratic legitimacy, transparency and efficiency of the EU was put at the center. Thus, it has been given much more attention and its credentials have been improved day by day in the EU. However, democracy, which is a very comprehensive subject incorporating several issues related to the EU, such as the principles of the EU, the institutional structure, legislative procedures, fundamental rights and the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, despite all this improvement trend in force, is still not sufficient. In this context, in which there still exists “democratic deficit” in the EU, after a brief historical background of the issue, the Lisbon Treaty is analyzed in terms of the novelties, advances it brought to democracy in the EU basically in two parts, namely the democratic principles, and the institutional and functional aspects of European democracy in this study. In the light of this analysis, it is aimed to figure out the advantages and limits of the improvement trend in European democracy, which would open the way for further developments in this issue.