The EU between Federal Union and Flexible Integration

Against a backcloth of tumultuous events in Europe, the EU faces once again the fateful question of moving towards federal union or let flexible integration guide the Union. The sixth volume in Interdisciplinary European Studies explores the coexistence of deepening political integration and flexible patterns of integration in the EU. The book brings together scholars from economics, law, and political science to provide insights into issues with a bearing on the future of the EU: the crisis of rule of law and political values, the move towards a European defence union, the power of the new European public prosecutor's office, the prospects of financial stability through the Recovery and Resilience facility, and the state of European parliamentary democracy. The chapters are based on up-to-date research findings and succinct assessments of the current state of affairs and ongoing debates. They conclude with policy recommendations for decision-makers on European and national levels.

Addresses constant tensions between intergovernmentalism and supranationalism in the process of European integration Discusses current developments taking the EU on the route toward federalism Assesses the future direction of European integration

Autorentext

Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt is Professor of European Law at the Faculty of Law of Stockholm University, Sweden.

Per Ekman is a researcher in Political Science at the Department of Government, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Anna Michalski is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Department of Government, Uppsala University and Senior Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

Lars Oxelheim is Professor of International Business and Finance at University of Agder, Norway, Professor Emeritus at Lund University and affiliated with the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Sweden.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. The road ahead for the European Union: between federal union and flexible integration (Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, Per Ekman, Anna Michalski and Lars Oxelheim).- Chapter 2. Enlargement and the watering down of democracy: A Union in existential crisis (Daniel Silander).- Chapter 3. The state of rule of law in Europe: The EU in a limbo between federalism and flexible integration (Anna Södersten).- Chapter 4. Parliament as an arena for political opposition to EU policy: wasteland or conflict zone? (Christer Karlsson, Moa Mårtensson and Thomas Persson), etc. <p