PARTICIPATION OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS AND THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The aim of the research is to explore various forms of participation of the EU Member States Parliaments in the political processes of the European Union. The assessment of the intensity of the analyzed participation will be made by applying the concept of classification of the distinguished participation, which includes passive and active participation. This study has a significant impact in the context of participation of citizens, whose direct representatives are elected members of the national Parliaments (NP). The article verifies the hypothesis that the variety of forms of participation of NP in the political processes in the EU strengthens the democratic legitimacy by increasing transparency and accountability of the EU institutions and by improving cross-level communication lines between the EU institutions and national authorities. Active forms of participation increase influence of NP on the EU political processes. However, a wide range of informal participation increases the effectiveness of supranational decision-making processes, in particular, reducing the technocratic nature of the decisions.