Die eigentümliche Diskussion um Zentralisierung und Dezentralisierung in der Europapolitik

Abstract

: This paper deals with the peculiar discussion around centralization and decentralization in the European Union. It is argued that large parts of this discussion rest on a flawed analogy of the liberal concept of normative individualism on the one hand and the concept of political decentralization in federal multi-layer systems on the other. Based on this flawed analogy an unusual and partly misleading notion of decentralization has widely been used in the discussion of European Integration. As a result, there are a number of misjudgements in some central topics of European Integration. These topics are the question of institutional competition among governments, the effects of fiscal competition on the tax burden of citizens and a future European constitution.