3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change?
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Desmond Dinan
Abstract
The idea of crisis as opportunity is a recurring theme in the European Union. Although crises may sometimes have been beneficial for the EU, they have rarely impelled treaty change, one of the main vehicles for EU reform and renewal. None of the major treaty changes in the history of the European Community, and later the European Union, was due primarily or even largely to a prevailing crisis. Those major treaty changes, culminating in the Lisbon Treaty of 2007, proved politically costly, which greatly reduced the appetite among national governments for further treaty change. It is striking that the EU undertook only one treaty change - a relatively minor reform of Economic and Monetary Union - during the series of crises that has buffeted the EU since 2010 (the so-called poly-crisis). Recent developments, notably the conclusion of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the revival of interest in EU enlargement, have prompted efforts to reopen the door to further treaty change. Given the legacy of the long and difficult road to the Lisbon Treaty, however, and the capacity of the Lisbon Treaty to meet new challenges, the possibility of further, far-reaching treaty change seems remote.
Abstract
The idea of crisis as opportunity is a recurring theme in the European Union. Although crises may sometimes have been beneficial for the EU, they have rarely impelled treaty change, one of the main vehicles for EU reform and renewal. None of the major treaty changes in the history of the European Community, and later the European Union, was due primarily or even largely to a prevailing crisis. Those major treaty changes, culminating in the Lisbon Treaty of 2007, proved politically costly, which greatly reduced the appetite among national governments for further treaty change. It is striking that the EU undertook only one treaty change - a relatively minor reform of Economic and Monetary Union - during the series of crises that has buffeted the EU since 2010 (the so-called poly-crisis). Recent developments, notably the conclusion of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the revival of interest in EU enlargement, have prompted efforts to reopen the door to further treaty change. Given the legacy of the long and difficult road to the Lisbon Treaty, however, and the capacity of the Lisbon Treaty to meet new challenges, the possibility of further, far-reaching treaty change seems remote.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- List of authors ix
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Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
- 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
- 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
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Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
- 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
- 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
- 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
- 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
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Part III: The EU in a changing world
- 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
- 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
- 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
- 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
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Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
- 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
- 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
- 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
- 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
- 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- List of authors ix
-
Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
- 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
- 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
-
Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
- 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
- 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
- 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
- 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
-
Part III: The EU in a changing world
- 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
- 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
- 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
- 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
-
Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
- 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
- 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
- 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
- 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
- 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
- Index 319
