Fifty Years of European Integration: A Remarkable Achievement

The following sections outline four main phases in the history of European integration. First, this Article examines the decisive contribution that European integration made in the immediate postwar years to solving the German question and achieving Franco-German rapprochement. Second, it looks at the steps taken in the mid-1950s to launch the broader European Economic Community (“EEC”). The next section explains the difficulties encountered in completing the single market, which were eventually overcome in the late 1980s. The mixed record of the EU, launched in 1993 following ratification of the Treaty on European Union ( Maastricht Treaty ), is then examined. The final sections provide a brief assessment of the achievements of European integration and an overview of the integrative opportunities and individual initiatives that have characterized the process so far

Less Than a state, more than an international organization: The Sui generis nature of the European Union

In this paper, I show that the European Union (EU) is less than a state, but more than an international organization. Although it possesses some characteristics of both, the European Union is, I argue, a sui generis project: Although the EU wields extensive influence in some policy areas (such as competition policy or international trade regulation), its institutions’ powers are quite limited in many areas that remain firmly within the grasp of its Member States’ governments (such as security, justice, tax or redistribution policies). The European Union’s supranational elements – especially the EU laws’ supremacy over the laws of individual Member States – distinguish it, furthermore, from international organizations, such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. I conclude that the European Union is really a sui generis project that has not been attempted anywhere else: As such, it could be regarded as a useful case study, or perhaps even a “pilot project,” for regional integration projects elsewhere

The Convention on the Future of Europe - Transatlantic Perspectives

[Introduction by Virginie Guiraudon, Forum Editor]. In June 2000, the Convention on the Future of Europe delivered its project for a draft Constitution to the European Council as a basis for negotiations during the 2003-2004 Intergovernmental Conference. Although it is too early to tell how different the final outcome will be from the Convention draft, it is time to reflect on the Convention as process, and situate this EU experiment in deliberative negotiating. In this "EUSA Review Forum", three authors look back at the work of the Convention and analyze it in a historical and transatlantic light