Over the past two years, the European Union has been engaged in an exercise of what is fashionably called “deliberative democracy,” namely the Conference on the Future of Europe. The conference brought together members of national assemblies and the European Parliament with randomly chosen European citizens to debate changes to the way the EU operates. Although the conference’s debates have received scant media attention, it may prove to be the first step in a new round of treaty reform, revising the EU’s basic constitutional framework.

For EU member states, which now comprise the vast majority of European countries, the union’s institutional architecture and the legislation it enacts shape the contours of political possibility, for good or for ill. The fact that these subjects are often discussed in a forbiddingly technical way should not deter us from giving them the close attention they deserve. There is no sign of the EU disintegrating in the foreseeable future, despite the predictions that many commentators made in the thick of the eurozone crisis, so it will continue to be a major factor in Europe’s political landscape for a long time to come.

The current political conjuncture has opened up a window of possibility for the union to become more open and democratic in its functioning. Socialists should be taking a keen interest in what is happening and doing whatever they can to push developments in the right direction.