EU-25 Watch
The enlarged EU of 25 members is in a process of reshaping its constitutional and political order and at the same time of expanding its membership and taking on new obligations in international politics. This project sheds light on key issues and challenges of European integration. Institutes from all 25 EU member states as well as from the four acceding/candidate countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey) participate in this survey. The aim is to give a full comparative picture of debates on European integration and current developments in European politics in each of these countries.
Read the entire document or simply the Danish contribution, written by Anna de Klauman and Catharina Sørensen.
This survey was conducted on the basis of a questionnaire that has been elaborated in June and July 2005 by all participating institutes, including DIIS.
Key findings - Heterogeneity and diversity of preferences, conditions and capacities is a dominant feature of the EU-25. Member states are currently going through different cycles of modernisation and adaptation. The diverse and uneven implementation of the Lisbon strategy is a case in point. While old member states like France, Germany and Italy are particularly slow, countries like the Nordics and other newcomers with a recent history of Europeanisation via membership are on path of reform and still have an impetus for change that others lack. Expectations are high that the EU should combine competitiveness with social security and solidarity.
- Across the EU a gap between the citizens and the political class is widening. Considering the lack of trust it is not enough for European leaders to go on with business as usual, especially since the political crisis is widely interpreted as a crisis of leadership at both national and EU level. The future of the Constitutional treaty is open, a wait and see attitude is prevalent in most member states.
- Consolidation and limits of the EU in political, functional and also geographic terms is becoming a major concern in member states. Enlargement fatigue sweeps through old member states.
- European integration is currently largely driven by external factors that set priorities of action for the EU. However, an attractive integration project à la single market or EMU is missing that would strengthen internal political cohesion of the EU.
From: Barbara Lippert / Timo Goosmann: Introduction: A portrait of the Union in a puzzling state of mind, in: Institut für Europäische Politik (Ed.): EU-25 Watch, No. 2, January 2006, Berlin, pp. 8-17, here p. 8.
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