Following a decade of severe crisis and stagnation, the European Union is set to embark on an ambitious reform program to “rediscover [its] unity and inner strength.” Such is the promise made by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in the political guidelines for her five-year mandate, entitled “A Union that strives for more.”

Von der Leyen’s vision statement contains key pledges to address the sources of discontent rising across the continent. “I want Europe to strive for more in nurturing, protecting, and strengthening our democracy,” von der Leyen sets out, calling for a Conference on the Future of Europe that promises citizens a chance to “have their say” on the direction of the EU’s democratic reform. “I want Europe to strive for more by being the first climate-neutral continent,” von der Leyen writes, pledging to deliver a European Green Deal and a “just transition for all” away from fossil fuels.

Yet within this framework, the question of democracy and the challenge of a changing climate — the Conference and the Green Deal, respectively — are posed as entirely separate. To be sure, the Commission has promised a “European Climate Pact,” which proposes to convene “local communities, civil society, industry, and schools” to “commit to a set of pledges to bring about a change in behavior.” But the Commission’s Green Deal plan makes no reference to democracy; indeed, the word does not appear anywhere in its twenty-four-page communication. On the contrary, the Green Deal is set to deepen the EU’s democratic deficit, even as it drives the decarbonization of its economy.