The EU will never become more democratic unless also the lawyers in the EU institutions see that it's important and start promoting that.

And in a way, embrace that also as their political project. I'm Oh Oh .

I'm

.

. Welcome to Europa Felix.

My guest today is Paivileno Sandberg, Professor of Transnational European Law at the University

of Helsinki and author of The Politics of Legal

Expertise in EU Policymaking. Her book takes us behind the scenes of the EU institutions

to uncover the role of legal advisors in shaping EU decisions and policies. That's a reality

I know well. In my day job, when I'm not interviewing guests for this podcast,

I am one of these legal advisors. So for me, Pivey's work isn't just about an abstract group of

professionals. It's about people like me. Her book offered me a mirror, a way to see my own

profession through someone else's eyes. It's a critical, sociological study of what we do, how we think, and how we influence the European

project.

How objective are we really?

How much of what we call legal advice is shaped by political agendas?

And what does that mean for the democratic legitimacy of the EU?

In this conversation, we explore those questions together.

We talk about the legal services of the Council, the Commission and the Parliament,

about the tension between technical expertise and political influence,

and about how transparency, or the lack of it, around legal

advice, impacts trusts in EU decision-making and its institutions. If you're new to the world

...