Taking Back Control?

Abstract The EU has been seen by a number of critics as incompatible with parliamentary sovereignty and hence with political constitutionalism, a view that fuelled calls to leave it in order to ‘take back control’. This chapter disputes that claim. It critiques both Eurosceptic calls for ‘taking back control’ and federalist visions of a unified EU demos. Instead, it proposes a demoicratic model—based on mutual governance among Europe’s diverse peoples (demoi)—to balance democracy, sovereignty, and global interdependence. This model envisions the EU as an association of democratic states, legitimized through national parliaments and citizens, not just EU institutions. It embraces constitutional pluralism, where EU and national legal systems co-exist with mutual respect. Enhancing the role of national parliaments and enabling differentiated integration are key recommendations to bridge the ‘demoicratic disconnect’. The chapter argues for a republican intergovernmentalism, allowing states to collaborate without ceding sovereignty. The EU, thus, becomes a framework for mutual regulation and respect, preserving national autonomy while fostering collective decision-making in a globalized world. In effect, it preserves political constitutionalism within states by establishing a political constitutional arrangement between them at the international level.