Democracy and Europe: new times, old dilemmas

Democratic instances in European legal systems are still part of a developing phenom- enon, even whilst the process towards a European Constitution is decelerating. The paper will analyse possible solutions to the lack of democracy and participation in European context, in order to understand if philosophical and economical approaches could give an effective contribution to the legal system. In particular, it will be asked whether the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, as applied by the Constitu- tional Courts of different Member States pave the new way towards democracy.