The Future of a More Differentiated E(M)U

Janis A. Emmanouilidis

EU60: Refounding Europe. The Responsibility to Propose

Rome 02/2017

PDF-Download




This paper argues that future EMU reforms will require a higher level of differentiation between Euro and non-Euro countries. However, the creation of a closed core Europe involving merely the “willing and able,” which would establish a two-tier Europe with different institutionalized classes of membership, is neither likely nor desirable. It should not be the Leitbild (guiding concept) steering the way towards a more differentiated Europe. The EU and its members should rather adhere to the notion of functional-pragmatic differentiation by applying instruments of differentiated integration foreseen by the EU Treaties. However, given the experience since 2010, member states are likely to continue to revert to intergovernmental avenues of differentiation outside the EU’s framework. In this case, it would be advisable to make sure that future agreements/arrangements follow the logic and principles of an intergovernmental avant-garde to avoid some of the risks linked to a higher level of cooperation outside the Union’s legal framework. 

The paper was prepared within the context of “EU60: Re-Founding Europe. The Responsibility to Propose”, an initiative launched by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), in cooperation with the Centro Studi sul Federalismo (CSF) and in the framework of IAI’s strategic partnership with the Compagnia di San Paolo, on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome.

Download available here


Latest publications

Overcoming a hollow & illusory unity – Preparing EUrope for Trump
Janis A. Emmanouilidis | Almut Möller | Fabian Zuleeg, EPC Commentary, Brussels 11/2024

Reactions to the next Commission
Fabian Zuleeg & Janis A. Emmanouilidis, EPC Flash Analysis, Brussels 09/2024

Confronting the permacrisis: Time for a supra-governmental avantgarde
Fabian Zuleeg, Almut Möller, Janis A. Emmanouilidis, EPC Discussion Paper, Brussels 07/2024

Eight structural innovations for the EU’s next politico-institutional cycle
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg, EPC Discussion Paper, Brussels 06/2024

Participatory democracy at the EU level: How to break the invisible ceiling?
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Corina Stratulat, Observatory Report, EPC & EU Democracy Reform Observatory 03/2024

Europawahl 2024 – was für die EU und Deutschland auf dem Spiel steht
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Johannes Greubel, Brussels 01/2024

Turning Fear Into Hope
Herman Van Rompuy | Fabian Zuleeg | Janis A. Emmanouilidis | Jacki Davis, EPC 11/2022

Overcoming the ambition-unity dilemma
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg, Brussels 10/2022

The Future is Now – What next after the Conference on the Future of Europe?
Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Taking Stock, Moving Forward: Reflections Following the Conference on the Future of Europe, Hanns Seidel Foundation & ELIAMEP, Athens 08/2022

Europe’s moment of truth: United by adversity?
Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Fabian Zuleeg, Brussels 07/2022


Publications