Not All Member States Move Together: Differentiated Integration

Abstract

This chapter reviews differentiated integration (DI) as a model seeking to explain the political economy of European integration since the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Over half of recent EU initiatives have been estimated to exhibit some form of DI. “Two-speed” and “multispeed” Europe have emerged as related concepts. President Macron has endorsed DI as a vehicle for taking forward radical integration with a sub-set of member states. The chapter reviews the literature, and some of its concepts. It questions some of the quantitative results. It notes that much DI has a normative basis, with full integration seen as the goal. “Differentiation” by contrast recognizes that differences may be indefinite. The chapter expands the concepts of vertical and horizontal DI to include functional DI—where closely related functions are treated differently, for instance, banking and insurance, and contrasts internal DI with external DI. With the EU characterized by DI or differentiation, it is far from a federal state. The chapter looks at the EU as a demoicracy, a union of peoples.