EU Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability

ended

The evolution of the EU’s politics and policies has demonstrated that differentiation can no longer be treated as an anomaly in the integration process, posing a key set of questions to academic and policy-makers alike: whether, how much and what form of differentiation is not only compatible with but also conducive to a more effective, cohesive and democratic EU. The project’s name – EU IDEA – Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability – captures these key questions. The basic claim underpinning our proposal is that differentiation is not only necessary to address current challenges more effectively, by making the Union more resilient and responsive to citizens. Differentiation is also desirable, by introducing a useful degree of flexibility in the complex EU machinery, so long as such flexibility is compatible with the core principles of the EU’s constitutionalism and identity, sustainable in terms of governance, and acceptable to EU citizens, Member States and affected third partners. In line with these premises and objectives, EU IDEA will conduct an historical and philosophical investigation of the origins of differentiation, within and outside the EU (WP 1); analyse differentiation – in relation to issues of governance and accountability (WP 2) and narratives on EU constitutionalism and identity (WP 3); investigate the practice of differentiation in key policy areas (WPs 4-5-6) and in light of the prospects for Brexit (WP 7); and assess the political and public preferences at national level (WP 8). The findings of our analysis will be instrumental to defining the criteria – at institutional, policy and societal levels – to assess future scenarios of differentiation as a tool of integration (or disintegration) and to develop policy recommendations for EU and national policy-makers with an aim to a more effective and accountable Union (WP 9).