Flexible integration: Which model for the European Union?

Book abstract:

A move away from the current 'menu fixe' to a more flexible 'à la carte' may be too much for many European politicians to digest but unless a change is made then constipation and even stagnation may be the ills facing the European Union.

This latest book in UACES' Contemporary European Studies series explores the arguments for and against the use of the principle of flexibility as an instrument in European integration. The reasons for the development of flexibility in the EU and how it has become such an important feature of EU governance are covered in chapter one leading to a discussion in chapter two of the best means to theorise flexibility and promote a return to functionalism although in a revised form. The progress of flexibility and how it has been implemented is examined in chapter three before moving on to the problems associated with flexibility as a central feature of European integration discussed in chapter four. The 'a la carte' solution to problems facing integration are offered in chapter five and the author is in no doubt that in political terms the changes would require purgative remedies of a kind previously avoided by the member states.

Alex Warleigh is Reader in European Governance and Deputy Director of the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research at Queen's University, Belfast.

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