Abstract. Emergence of the EU political system led to the denationalization of its economic space. This political system can be characterized as a democratic one. Yet through European elections, the European citizens do not elect the government acting at the supranational level. It is not them, but the European political class, who determines the integration agenda. The article exposes а linkage between changing parameters of political democracy in the EU member states and transition from centralized national governance to a multilevel one (MLG), accompanied by development of new governance modes. Participatory democracy serves in the EU as an important supplement for representative democracy. Privileged partners (such as Switzerland or Norway) are allowed to participate in the MLG. Yet representatives of the transnational European civil society or governments of those states, which are not full EU members, are not admitted to the decision-making stage.