What Government for the European Union? Five Themes for Reflection and Action

Faced with many domestic and external challenges to its politico-institutional order, the European Union is in the middle of a protracted critical juncture, whose eventual outcome(s) will likely set the course of European integration for many years to come. Political fluidity and uncertainty present both opportunities and responsibilities for the intellectual sphere, which now sees its chances to influence political developments dramatically increased. Reacting to this state of affairs, the “Governing Europe” research project gathers a number of leading EU scholars and analysts with the double task of taking stock of the political and institutional status quo, and proposing new solutions to render the EU more legitimate, effective and resilient for the future. Consistently with the multi-faceted nature of Europe’s political problems, the project is organised around five broad and cross-sectoral themes: intergovernmentalism vs. supranationalism; democracy and representation; asymmetric integration; economic governance; Europe in the world. For each, this background paper presents a brief overview and a sketch of some of the most pressing issues and questions.

Background paper prepared within the context of “Governing Europe”, a joint project led by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and Centro Studi sul Federalismo (CSF) of Turin in the framework of the strategic partnership with Compagnia di San Paolo, International Affairs Programme. Publ. in: Lorenzo Vai, Pier Domenico Tortola, Nicoletta Pirozzi (eds.), Governing Europe. How to Make the EU More Efficient and Democratic, Bruxelles [etc], P.I.E-Peter Lang, 2017, 248 p. (Federalism ; 8), ISBN 978-2-8076-0058-4 (pbk); 978-2-8076-0059-1 (pdf); 978-2-8076-0060-7 (EPUB); DOI: 10.3726/b10699.