CLUB MEMBERSHIPS IN THE EU. PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATED INTEGRATION  Cover Image

Klubtagságok az EU-ban (A differenciált integráció gyakorlati és elméleti vonatkozásai)
CLUB MEMBERSHIPS IN THE EU. PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATED INTEGRATION

Author(s): Boglárka Koller
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: MTA Politikai Tudományi Intézete
Keywords: European Union; European integration; differentiated integration; flexibility; multi-speed Europe

Summary/Abstract: Differentiated integration is one of the joker concepts of contemporary writings on the theory of integration. Though a reference to it fi gured already in the Rome Treaty, differentiated integration has become a new trend in the process towards European unity only during the past ten years. The paper, in addition to presenting the political, legal and scholarly interpretations of the concept, also investigates the relevant stipulations of the Lisbon Treaty, and argues that this treaty can be regarded as a milestone in the practical realisation of differentiated integration. Differentiated integration reinterprets the theories of integration so far used, such as federal, neo-functionalist and intergovernmental theories in respect of the process of integration and of assessing its ultimate goal. Consequently differentiated integration offers new ideas and trends also regarding the self-definition of the European Union and its further development.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 32-57
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Hungarian