This paper takes issue with the widely held view that Europe has failed to
govern the multiple crises it has been facing because of too little
integration. Rather than a lack of authority, a growing “commitment-compliance
gap” has exacerbated the regulatory deficits of EU governance in core areas of
the European integration project. The failure of the Member States to put into
practice the policies they agreed upon at the EU level has its cause in Euro-
nationalists dominating the politicization of EU policies and institutions.
They have been empowered by the way in which the Member States have sought to
solve the Euro crisis. The growing contestation of and opposition to the EU
and its policies per se is not the problem. Nor is it the return of
nationalism in Europe or the lack of a European public sphere. Instead of an
outright rejection of European integration, we see the mobilization of
illiberal, nationalist ideas of Europe, which are exclusionary, xenophobic,
and anti-Islam. This paper argues that Euro-nationalism undermines not only
the legitimacy but also the effectiveness of EU governance. It has been fueled
by the mix of Member State negotiation and competition in the shadow of
supranational hierarchy. This has worked for the EU as a regulatory state but
is not suitable for dealing with the redistributive issues that have come to
dominate important areas of European integration. In fact, simply extending
the EU’s governance mix from regulatory to redistributive policies is likely
to further undermine its effectiveness and legitimacy