Integration of the European Union

Paper Summary:

Since the end of World War II, Europe has experienced a strong development towards European integration. However, this development towards a unified Europe has not been without any conflicts and interruptions. The European Union with its common policies has been rather the result of a long, troublesome and complex procedure of integration. There is one view which reasons this is due to the fact that European integration only proceeds where and as far as it is in the interest of member state governments. This essay discusses this view by analyzing the most significant theories on European integration. Furthermore, the paper takes the Economic Monetary Union (EMU) as an example in order to show how the specific theories actually manifested themselves in practice.

Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
II. Theories of Integration
1. Intergovernmentalism
1.1. Theory of Intergovernmentalism
1.1.1. Rising Interdependence
1.1.2. Domestic Politics and National Preference Formation
1.1.3. Intergovernmental Bargaining
1.1.4. Delegation to Supranational Authorities and Consolidation
1.2. The Establishment of the EMU from the Intergovernmentalist Perspective
1.2.1. Rising Economic Interdependence
1.2.2. European Monetary System (EMS)
1.2.3. The Transition to EMU
1.2.4. Delegation to the European Central Bank (ECB)
2. Neofunctionalism
2.1. Theory of Neofunctionalism
2.1.1. Spill-over Effects
2.1.2. Institutionalization
2.2. The Establishment of the EMU from the Neofunctionalist Perspective
2.2.1. EMU as the Result of Political and Functional Spill-over
2.2.2. EMU as the Result of Institutionalization
2.2.3. Enlargement of EMU due to Geographical Spill-over
III. Conclusion
IV. Reference List

From the Paper:

"The plan for the implementation of the EMU was also the result of intergovernmental bargaining. In the Maastricht Treaty, all participating member state executives agreed on the implementation of the EMU. The idea of Genscher, the foreign minister of West Germany, that monetary union "should be fully institutionalised around a single currency and a European central bank" (Levitt, Lord, 2000:45) found agreement in the intergovernmental bargaining. Consequently, state-executives delegated their powers of monetary control to the supranational ECB. Hence, today's ECB with its independence and control of monetary policy is based on the unanimous agreement and interest of its member state governments."

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