THE FUTURE OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Abstract

When the first edition of this book was written in 2005 the European Union (EU) had just undertaken one of the most momentous enlargements in its history. The expansion in membership from 15 to 25 member states through the accession of eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe and two from the Mediterranean transformed the geographic size, economic importance and political reach of the EU. Enlargement brought about some of the most contentious debates in the history of European integration with regard to what the EU stands for and how far it should or could grow. Heated debates translated into the European integration process stalling as a result of the Dutch and French electorates rejecting the Constitutional Treaty in referenda on 29 May and 1 June 2005. The Treaty was supposed to do more than just ‘tidy up’ all the loose ends that had emerged with over 50 years of reform and adjustment to the EU; it attempted to set out a clear sense of what the EU could do as well as what powers should remain with the member states. Most significantly, the very use of ‘constitution’ did not sit well with domestic audiences who often could not relate or did not want to be governed in such a way. From the ashes of this ‘Constitutional crisis’ member states reached agreement on a Treaty of Lisbon in December 2007 which eventually entered into force on 1 December 2009 after it was ratified by all member states. This proved to be an easier task than the process of ratifying the Constitutional Treaty. This was partly because the Lisbon Treaty merely amends earlier Treaties, whereas the Constitutional Treaty sought to replace all of the previous Treaties. But it was also influenced by the fact that member states shied away from having referendums on the Treaty after the difficulties experienced with the Constitutional Treaty. In the end, when Irish voters endorsed the Lisbon Treaty with a 67 percent ‘Yes’ vote in a referendum vote on 2 October 2009, this basically gave the green light to the Treaty entering into force. The Irish referendum was, in fact, their second vote on the Lisbon Treaty, with the electorate having previously voted ‘No’ some 16 months earlier. Although the change in mood among the Irish electorate had been influenced by some of the developments outlined above, a key factor that appeared to influence the views of voters was the way in which the global economic recession of 2008-2009 exposed a fragility in the Irish economy that resulted in a majority of the electorate concluding that they had to vote ‘Yes’ as the country’s fortunes were dependent on European integration. A feature of the first edition was its attempt to provide an accessible introduction to the study of European integration and the feedback from reviews, colleagues and students was that this goal was met. For this edition I have made a number of changes in response to critics and events. As with all writings on the EU, it is the case that this is a fast changing landscape and there are always going to be limitations to the extent to which any one book can claim to be fully ‘up-to-date’. Those interested in the subject should consult the relevant websites and suggestions for further reading that are indicated at the end of this book.As I noted in the preface of the first edition, this is a subject matter that is often confused by terminology. The Treaties of Rome created two communities: a European Economic Community (EEC) and a European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). In 1967 they merged with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to form a single institutional structure. From the 1970s onwards it was commonplace to refer to all three institutions as the European Community (EC). I have therefore used the term EEC up until the end of the 1960s and from then on the term EC. This is despite the fact that the EEC was not officially renamed the EC until the 1993 Maastricht Treaty on European Union. At this point the EC became a separate entity of the European Union (EU) that was created by the Maastricht Treaty and I therefore use the term EU from 1993 onwards. On occasion, I have adopted the practice of referring to the EEC/EC/EU simply as ‘Europe’ as this is the term that is often used in debates on the subject.