「歐洲化」概念在過去十年間受到歐盟研究學者的重視;然而當越來越多人賦予「歐洲化」越來越多的定義，「歐洲化」概念的實用性開始受到質疑。本文著重歐洲化概念對進一步增進我們對歐盟的了解所可能提供的「用處」，試圖利用歐洲化概念來探討歐洲整合對於不同層次的行為者所造成的衝擊。期以歐盟的民主赤字現象為例，說明歐洲化研究的實用性。文章首先從既存研究中確立歐洲化在歐洲政治結構的「上層」已經發生是既存事實，然而歐洲化在歐洲政治結構的「底層」則尚未發生。歐洲化的發生所仰賴的「機制」如果持續單獨存在於上層而不存在於底層，則此一「不對稱的歐洲化」將讓歐盟民主赤字的問題在未來更加嚴重。

In the past ten years, Europeanists paid an increasing amount of attention to the concept of “Europeanization.” When the definition of “Europeanization” expands as more and more scholars build their research around the concept, the usefulness of the concept was cast in doubt. This article uses the study of elite-citizen gap in the EU as an example to shed light on the usefulness of the Europeanization concept in furthering our understanding of European integration. It examines the impact of Europeanization on different levels of actors. It argues that existing studies of Europeanization focus exclusively on actors at the top or middle levels of the political entity—a phenomenon that may very well reflect the situation in reality. In contrast, few studies deal with the Europeanization of citizens— again, a phenomenon that corresponds to the notion of the EU’s democratic deficit problem. It argues that the increasing discrepancy between Europeanization of elites and citizens is both a sign and the cause for the persisting democratic deficit problem.