Complex legitimacy in compound polities: the EU as example

Compound polities such as the EU combine multilevel governance (MLG) and multilevel polities (MLPs). They are said to suffer from serious democracy deficits. I argue that legitimacy is more complex and propose to clearly distinguish and acknowledge serious trade-offs between constitutional (liberal), democratic and output legitimacy. It is urgent to inquire whether it is possible and, if so, how to make compound polities both more constitutional and more democratic (more transparent, open and inclusive, easier to control, more representative and politically legitimate), without sacrificing effectiveness and efficiency as a result.