The objective of this co-operative project is to engage in primary research in order to enhance our understanding of the legitimacy and the democratic quality of European Union government and to explore the possibilities and prospects for a more democratic and legitimate European Union in the near future. This objective shall be reached by (a) the development of a normative theoretical framework of legitimate democratic government, encompassing three basic dimensions: identity, representation and accountability, and performance; (b) an empirical evaluation by means of public opinion surveys and content analysis of the performance of the present European Union on each of these dimensions; and (c) an evaluation of the prospects for the EU on these three dimensions in light of enlargement. This project is a joint endeavour of five European institutes: the EUI in Florence (Stefano Bartolini); the Central European University in Budapest (Gabor Toka); the University of Twente (Jacques Thomassen); the University of Stuttgart (Dieter Fuchs); and the MZES (Hermann Schmitt). The Mannheim part of it will focus on the organisation of the content analysis of frontpage news of the 2 major papers in 25 countries over the 4 weeks preceding the European Parliament elections of 2004; the organisation of the mass survey component of the study; and the writing-up and co-edition of a book reporting on the major findings of the study.