- EU Parliament is elected by citizens
- EU commission is selected by national governments and approved by the EU parliament
- EU council are the heads of government of the member states
Some of the strongest sources of political legitimacy are:
* Continuity with past institutions. For example ,the 98th Congress was legitimate because it succeeded the 97th Congress.
* Shared values and norms. For example, NATO suffered a huge loss of legitimacy due to the second Iraq war.
* Ability to identify public threat actors, and the ability to legitimately use violence (like incarceration) against them. For example, states with strong elements of organized crime usually suffer from low political legitimacy. However when organized crime becomes part of the state, legitimacy can increase (Hezbollah, the Chicago Outfit, and the Yakuza are examples).
* Self constraint by clearly defined norms. Some things just “aren’t done.” In America it would be scandal if a judge was elected because of the persons ability to fundraise. But that’s very common for ambassadors. For judges it’s just “not done.”
If a foreign power invaded and held elections, it’s unlikely the elections would be seen as legitimate, even if they were free and fair.
This is why both the US and Soviet Union were unable to hold legitimate elections in thier respective zones in Germany until the occupation ended.
Elections are really good example of how simulating an institution does not confer legitimacy.
Historically currency was the legitimacy multiplier, but it was about getting the god-king’s face on the coinage, not setting economic policy.
Nowadays governments are pretty indifferent about whose face is on the currency. And they’re likewise indifferent about economic sovereignty.
NATO had no involvement in the Iraq war.
The EU was formed in 1993, with precursor organisations going back to 1948, and the European Parliament has been elected in continuity since 1979. On the European continent, there can be basically almost no continuity going back farther than after WW2 because of how the war completely reshaped the continent. In that sense, the EU has more continuity than many Eastern European nations.
> Shared values and norms.
This sounds very vague. Every political entity of a nontrivial size has massive diversity of thought, that's true of small Switzerland just as much as of the EU or the US. That said, I do think that on average, Europe tend to value certain things (e.g. walkable cities) more than some other areas in the world.