Which lessons to draw from the past and current use of differentiated integration?

Janis A. Emmanouilidis

European Parliament, Challenges of multi-tier governance in the European Union, Compendium

Brussels 05/2013

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This briefing note starts from the assumption that differentiated integration is already a reality in the EU27 and that the degree of flexibility is most likely to increase in future. The paper lists and analyses nine key lessons from the (recent) past and on that basis draws a number of conclusions for the (near) future with respect to a higher level of differentiation in the area of economic, fiscal and monetary affairs.

The paper is part of a compendium including articles of a number of eminent experts invited by the Policy Department C to exchange with the Members of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on the issues related to the challenges of the multi-tier governance in the EU. They aim at providing unique insights into the major questions of efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy that the EU governance is currently facing. While dealing with the lessons from the past experiences of the differentiated integration, they put naturally a specific focus on current challenges with the respect to the Economic and Monetary union. They further analyse the impact of those developments on the European institutions and their decision-making processes and mechanisms of its legitimation. The compendium concludes with options for managing this increasing tension towards differentiation within the EU in the future.

Authors of the compendium include: Iain Begg, Renaud Dehousse, Bruno De Witte, Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Mattias Kumm, Jean-Victor Louis, Miguel Poiares Maduro, Andrea Manzella, Ingolf Pernice, Vivien A. Schmidt, Gian Luigi Tosato, Joseph. H. H. Weiler, Wolfgang Wessels.

Download briefing note here.

Link to download of EP compendium here.


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