Sie lesen aktuell unserer Archiv. Die aktuelle Webseite befindet sich unter: iep-berlin.de
You are currently reading our archive. The current webseite is located at: iep-berlin.de/en/

EU IDEA — Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability

Diffe­ren­tiation has become the new normal in the European Union (EU) and one of the most crucial matters in defining its future. A certain degree of diffe­ren­tiation has always been part of the European integration project since its early days. The Eurozone and the Schengen area have further conso­li­dated this trend into long-term projects of diffe­ren­tiated integration among EU Member States.

A number of unpre­ce­dented internal and external challenges to the EU, however, including the financial and economic crisis, the migration pheno­menon, renewed geopo­li­tical tensions and Brexit, have reinforced today the belief that more flexi­bility is needed within the complex EU machinery. A Permanent Struc­tured Coope­ration, for example, has been launched in the field of defence, enabling groups of willing and able Member States to join forces through new, flexible arran­ge­ments. Diffe­ren­tiation could offer a way forward also in many other key policy fields within the Union, where uniformity is undesi­rable or unattainable, as well as in the design of EU external action within an incre­asingly unstable global environment, offering manifold models of coope­ration between the EU and candidate countries, potential accession countries and associated third countries.

EU IDEA’s key goal is to address whether, how much and what form of diffe­ren­tiation is not only compa­tible with, but is also conducive to a more effective, cohesive and democratic EU. The basic claim of the project is that diffe­ren­tiation is not only necessary to address current challenges more effec­tively, by making the Union more resilient and responsive to citizens. Diffe­ren­tiation is also desirable as long as such flexi­bility is compa­tible with the core principles of the EU’s consti­tu­tio­nalism and identity, sustainable in terms of gover­nance, and accep­table to EU citizens, Member States and affected third partners.

The project puts together 15 EU and extra-EU partners in a joint research and disse­mi­nation effort coordi­nated by the Inter­na­tional Affairs Institute, starting from January 2019 and lasting for three years. It examines the histo­rical and philo­so­phical founda­tions of diffe­ren­tiation, within and outside the EU; it addresses diffe­ren­tiation in relation to gover­nance and accoun­ta­bility, consti­tu­tio­na­li­sation and European identity issues; it analyses the EU’s practice of diffe­ren­tiation in key policy areas such as the Economic and Monetary Union and the single market, the foreign, security and defense policy, and the area of freedom, security and justice, including migration policy, keeping a special focus on the impli­ca­tions of Brexit; and it inves­ti­gates the different national visions as regards diffe­ren­tiation, both at the level of political elites and citizens.

The results of the research will be used to define the criteria – insti­tu­tional, political and social – to analyse future scenarios of diffe­ren­tiated integration (or disin­te­gration) and to draw up recom­men­da­tions to European and national institutions.

More infor­mation on the EU IDEA website: www.euidea.eu

 

Research activities

EU IDEA will:

 

Project structure

IEP is looking forward to leading the work packages on “Narra­tives on European consti­tu­tio­nalism and identity” and “National prefe­rences on EU”.

Project leader of the IEP is Dr. Funda Tekin (E‑Mail).

 

Twitter Logo Follow the project on Twitter: @IdeaEu

 

Partner institutions

1. Inter­na­tional Affairs Institute (IAI) Italy (Coordi­nator)
2. Centre for European Reform (CER), United Kingdom
3. Centre for Inter­na­tional Infor­mation and Documen­tation in Barcelona (CIDOB), Spain
4. Egmont – Royal Institute for Inter­na­tional Relations (Egmont), Belgium
5. European Policy Centre (EPC), Belgium
6. European News Service (Eunews), Italy
7. Finnish Institute of Inter­na­tional Affairs (FIIA), Finland
8. Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje (IDSCS), former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
9. Institute of Inter­na­tional Relations (IIR), Czech Republic
10. Jacques Delors Institute (JDI), France
11. Norwegian Institute of Inter­na­tional Affairs (NUPI), Norway
12. Sabancı University (SU), Turkey
13. Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP), Germany
14. University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland
15. University of Groningen (RUG), The Netherlands

 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 822622.

News