With the White Paper on the Future of Europe, the European Commission had launched a debate on fundamental reforms of the Union structures in 2017. A total of five reform scenarios ranged from a reduction and focusing of the Union’s competences to increased integration in the sense of a United States of Europe. However, the White Paper did not have any consequences; none of the reform scenarios presented was implemented. However, current global challenges in the areas of health, climate change and energy resources as well as the shift in the global balance of power and related security issues demonstrate the increasing importance of a strong and united Europe. The idea of an “ever closer union”, as laid down in the preamble of the 1992 EU Treaty, could experience a renaissance. Against this background, the 13th Network Europe Conference addressed the importance of the integration project in times of global crises and the challenges in various policy areas, as well as the EU’s relations with its eastern and southern neighbors and its role vis-à-vis global actors such as China and Russia. This publication contains the conference contributions.

"While the major trends in European integration have been well researched and constitute key elements of narratives about its value and purpose, the crises of integration and their effects have not yet attracted sufficient attention. This volume, with original contributions by leading German scholars, suggests that crises of integration should be seen as engines of progress throughout the history of European integration rather than as expressions of failure and regression, a widely held assumption. It therefore throws new light on the current crises in European integration and provides a fascinating panorama of how challenges and responses were guiding the process during its first five decades."--Publisher's website.

With the White Paper on the Future of Europe, the European Commission had launched a debate on fundamental reforms of the Union structures in 2017. A total of five reform scenarios ranged from a reduction and focusing of the Union’s competences to increased integration in the sense of a United States of Europe. However, the White Paper did not have any consequences; none of the reform scenarios presented was implemented. However, current global challenges in the areas of health, climate change and energy resources as well as the shift in the global balance of power and related security issues demonstrate the increasing importance of a strong and united Europe. The idea of an “ever closer union”, as laid down in the preamble of the 1992 EU Treaty, could experience a renaissance. Against this background, the 13th Network Europe Conference addressed the importance of the integration project in times of global crises and the challenges in various policy areas, as well as the EU’s relations with its eastern and southern neighbors and its role vis-à-vis global actors such as China and Russia. This publication contains the conference contributions.

The European Union (EU) is in crisis. The crisis extends beyond Brexit, the fluctuating fortunes of the eurozone and the challenge of mass migration. It cuts to the core of the EU itself. Trust is eroding; power is shifting; politics are toxic; disillusionment is widespread; and solidarity has frayed. In this major new text leading academics come together to unpack all dimensions of the EU in crisis, and to analyse its implications for the EU, its member states and the ongoing study of European integration.

After decades of economic integration and EU enlargement, the economic geography of Europe has shifted, with new peripheries emerging and the core showing signs of fragmentation. This book examines the paths of the core and peripheral countries, with a focus on their diverse productive capabilities and their interdependence. Crisis in the European Monetary Union: A Core-Periphery Perspective provides a new framework for analysing the economic crisis that has shaken the Eurozone countries. Its analysis goes beyond the short-term, to study the medium and long-term relations between ‘core’ countries (particularly Germany) and Southern European ‘peripheral’ countries. The authors argue that long-term sustainability means assigning the state a key role in guiding investment, which in turn implies industrial policies geared towards diversifying, innovating and strengthening the economic structures of peripheral countries to help them thrive. Offering a fresh angle on the European crisis, this volume will appeal to students, academics and policymakers interested in the past, present and future construction of Europe.

This book addresses the viability of the EU economic and social model within and after the global economic crisis. It identifies four key issues which warrant further discussion: (1) the asymmetry of the legal and policy framework of the euro and potential recalibration; (2) substantive tensions between the EU ‘economic constitution’ and its normative aim of social justice and impacts on national policy; (3) the role of civil society, including the two sides of industry in overcoming these tensions; and (4) the EU’s global aspirations towards the creation of a viable socio-economic model. Its chapters offer two perspectives on each of the four main issues. In drawing these debates together, the book provides a broad understanding as well as starting points for future research. Bringing together different disciplinary approaches, ranging from legal studies to political economy, sociology and macroeconomics, it is a valuable contribution to the debate on the European social model and introduces new insights by focusing on legal and political tensions, the impact of the financial crisis and other economic contexts as well as global dimensions.

This book assesses the many changes that have occurred within the European Parliament and in its external relations since the Lisbon treaty (2009) and the last European elections (2014). It is undoubtedly the institution that has evolved the most since the 1950s. Despite the many crises experienced by European integration in the last years, the Parliament is still undergoing important changes in its formal competences, its influence on policy-making, its relations with other EU institutions, its internal organisation and its internal political dynamics. Every contribution deals with the most recent aspects of these evolutions and addresses overlooked topics, providing an overview of the current state of play which challenges the mainstream intergovernmental approach of the EU. This project results from research conducted at the Department of European Political and Governance Studies of the College of Europe. Individual research of several policy analysts of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) have contributed to this endeavour.