The Politics of Europe 2003 : Differences and Disagreements

The European Union (EU) was supposed to make a great leap forward in 2003. In many ways, it did. The European Convention presented its draft constitutional treaty. The 10 candidate countries signed and ratified their treaties of accession, and the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) agreed to share institutional resources. However, the year was marked more by division than by achievement. A series of crises over Iraq, the Stability and Growth Pact and the intergovernmental conference together shook confidence in the future of Europe. This essay examines what the implications of these crises are for Europe's future. It argues that they represent important disagreements - but not lasting differences - between the member states. The politics of Europe remains on track at the intergovernmental level. If there are problems in Europe's future, they are more likely to arise between elites and voters than between the member states