Erik Jones – Europe’s Political Union
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Erik Jones – Europe’s Political Union
Europe's heads of state and government finally recognize that there is a problem with the design of their Union. The problem is that they misunderstand what the problem is all about. The challenge is not to add more political union to strengthen and legitimate the monetary union and internal market. Rather it is to understand what political union entails. At the moment, Europe is about rules and their enforcement. But more often than not, politics is about choice. Alas none of the proposals for strengthening Europe's political union make space for greater European level discretion. There are good reasons why that is so. Democracy is stronger at the national level than it is across Europe as a whole. Nevertheless, it is important to consider how more discretion could be introduced into the European system. Otherwise even if we escape the current crisis, we will be no better equipped to handle the next one.
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