The European integration at the crossroad

This article asks a number of questions about the current stage of European integration. It traces past expansion of functional scope and membership of the EU and links these changes with efforts to increase the institutional capacity of the EU. After the big eastern enlargements in 2004 and 2007 and the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 and its entry into force in 2009 it is time to ask: where are we and where may we be going? A central issue is the eurozone crisis. Will the current muddling through add up to enough measures to pull us out of the crisis? Is there enough strategic thinking and leadership in the EU? German leadership with focus on austerity seems somewhat misplaced. Proposals for ‘more Europe’ in the form of banking, fiscal and political union, now appears to be the way forward. But how many member states of the EU –and eurozone– will be able to move in that direction? It looks as we may have more differentiated integration or ‘variable geometry’ in the future.