In all its chaos, divisiveness, and uncertainty, Brexit has not only raised considerable constitutional questions for the UK but has also led to the EU reflecting on itself, its direction, and how it comprehends and defines its existence both internally and on the global platform. One branch of speculative discussion on what a post-Brexit EU will look like is consideration of the role that the English language will play in the EU's institutions once the EU loses the member state that houses the demos with whom that language is associated. While much of this discussion has necessarily focused on whether a different language could become the unofficial lingua franca of the EU institutions in terms of the practicalities of its day-to-day workings, the future role and use of the English language as a democratic legitimacy tool has barely been remarked upon.

As such, a simple reframing of the component parts of democratic legitimacy (well, as simple as one could hope when attempting to deconstruct and reconstruct the tenets of democratic legitimacy) by means of considering whether the removal of the English language's associated demos could allow for language as a tool to be moved from the social legitimacy forum into the realm of formal legitimacy. And if so, whether this change in the role of the English language could provide the instigating spark for the eventual creation of a European demos, forged on alternative criteria to that constructed out of ideas centered on the post-nation state. Instead, the new European demos would be conceptualized within newly constructed frameworks that are more relevant and appropriate for its post-national (and multilingual) platform.

Social and formal legitimacy

Democratic legitimacy is widely accepted to encompass two distinct component categories: one formal and one social. Formal legitimacy corresponds to legality and thus concerns the democratic institutions and processes of law making within the EU, whereas social legitimacy does not take procedures into account, but rather refers to a broad social acceptance of the system. Consideration of what “social acceptance of the system” means in the EU context has necessarily focused on consideration of how to generate a European people; a single European demos.