POLITICAL CONCEPTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The political ideas of the European Union take their roots in the writings of the founding fathers of the West European integration. However, the theoretical reflections are not profound, since the authors were in the first place pragmatists like Jean Monnet. The first political visions aimed, first of all, at convincing both political elites as well as European masses to undertake the work of the unification of Europe. The theoretical ideas related to the political dimension of the European integration awake emotions. Apart from reflections on international and regional integration, which can be found in the works on the theories of international relations, the political regime of the European Union did not await any profound study. Nevertheless, the theoretical discussion on the political shape of European Union was caused by the process of constitutionalisation of the European Union. In the course discussions on the Constitutional Treaty, the more influential authors of theoretical works presented their opinions. The most important debates turned to be questions concerning the sovereignty of the Community supranational structure as well as the democratic deficit of the European Union. This article focuses on the most important discussions led from the position of the theory of democracy as well as the international political theory.