GERMANY, EUROPE AND THE DILEMMA OF DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMATION

Traditionally, Germany has been the very country to support and promote European integration without reservation. This viewpoint continues to be shared by all influential German politicians to such an extent that they are unwilling to initiate discussion on controversial European issues. There is, however an increasing critical undercurrent in the broader strata of German society, as K. Michael Prince, a political scientist and free-lance writer on issues concerning German domestic affairs and foreign policy in Washington, United States, feels. What results from this estimate is the problem of what will be the legitimacy of European integration with the German people in the long run unless the points of criticism will be so discussed as to allow the German public at large to identify with the European cause.