Institutional & Bureaucratic Dynamics

Associated with: Future of the European Union in 2030

Description:

Although Institutional & Bureaucratic Dynamics is not one of the major driving forces behind the European Union it is noticeable that it is always becoming more and more important factor in the political decision making process. As the European Union has built a very large institutional system, that in many cases govern policy creation, it can have the effect that the institutions start to maintain them self. As an example, one could assume that in the past a certain amount of institutional or bureaucratic desire existed at various times in respect of the issue of enlargement, particularly in terms of the wider implications of the intimate relationship between deepening and widening. As such, one could postulate that, on the one hand, perhaps in order simply to avoid ‘bureaucratic sclerosis’, and on the other, driven by the desire to maintain the holy shibboleths of integration theory, that the EU institutions themselves, and the Commission in particular, have at certain times sought to cajole the Member States towards opening up the Union to continual expansion [1]. The institutions themselves then have thus acted as a subtle factor prompting evolution in this regard.

Of course this is a potential driver only in particular circumstances – such as when profound disagreement exists between the current members over the long-term goals of the Union as was the case between 1981-84 – and thus where the need for enlargement can be used to defray or redistribute the costs of such disagreements to prospective new members, or to reaffirm the status of the ‘integration project’ more generally. Similarly such an issue surfaced again as Prodi sought to ensure that the Western Balkans were, as a group, promoted from the antechamber of the Neighborhood Policy to be given a full ‘entry perspective’ into the EU. It is useful to consider this point because it functions to remind us of the important role played initially by the Commission, and now also by the European Parliament both in the in the enlargement process as well as when we consider the force that keeps the European Union unified.

Experts:

• Politicians
• Global Executives
• Reporters
• Heads of Civil Movements

Resources:

• [1] Could we imagine other future for Europe?