Political Union Beyond the State: The Emergence of the EU as a Post-Westphalian Polity

Abstract

This article reassesses the nature of the European Union (EU) in the light of the Lisbon Treaty. It argues that the EU is neither a state nor a union of states, but rather forms a new phenomenon of statehood and international law. The conceptual innovation brought about by the EU is that the Union applies essential principles of democracy and the rule of law to an international organisation. The article has been prompted by the report Towards a genuine Economic and Monetary Union, submitted to the European Council by President van Rompuy on 26 June 2012. The intention of President van Rompuy and other Council members, including Chancellor Merkel, to transform the EMU into a political union in order to save the euro raises the question whether it is possible to construct the EU/EMU as a political union without turning the Union into a state.The narrative of the essay consists of a concise description of the evolution of the EU and its predecessors from a new kind of international organisation to a democratic polity of states and citizens. The analysis provides ample evidence for the conclusion that the EU has outgrown the Westphalian system of international relations and may consequently be defined as a Union of democratic states based on the rule of law, which also constitutes a law-based democracy of its own.