Publication

This article discusses a proposal made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 to appoint a committee of "wise men" to reshape the general orientation of the EU. The author discuses the pros and cons of such an idea, arguing that it will be of the utmost importance to prevent it from being instrumentalized in the political arena. Furthermore, against the background of the on-going criticism of the EU on account of its democratic deficits, the authors argue that it would be wrong to evade questions relating to the democratic legitimacy of such a committee.