A Flexible EU: a New Beginning or the Beginning of the End

Flexible integration in the EU is the practice whereby coalitions of the willing can push forward in particular policy areas, leaving others to catch up or fall behind. EU member-states with greater resources, capabilities and ambitions are more eager to co-operate, even if that means not having all 27 on board. Smaller and newer member-states fear that they may lose out from more flexible integration in the EU. Flexible integration could indeed increase divisions among member-states and lead to disintegration if it is used to exert pressure or simply bypass objectors. But if managed well and subjected to appropriate safeguards, flexible integration could help member-states overcome the current gridlock in the EU and pull it out of its current malaise, while keeping the EU united.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: A Flexible Europe After the Brexit Vote http://www.europeansources.info/record/a-flexible-europe-after-the-brexit-vote/

Carnegie Europe, 08.09.16: How to Build a More Flexible EU After Brexit http://carnegieeurope.eu/2016/09/08/how-to-build-more-flexible-eu-after-brexit/j531

ESO: Background information: How the EU can bend without breaking http://www.europeansources.info/record/how-the-eu-can-bend-without-breaking/

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