The project of European integration is
going to run into walls. In political terms, it has become evident that
its active as well as its passive support is decreasing. To some degree
this loss in faith is tied to the social implications of years of
austerity policies that were imposed to many nation-states in the EU.
Persistently high rates of unemployment and a reduction of real
household incomes are no reasons to be supportive of a project that is
widely seen as elite-driven as well as mainly in the interest of
export-sectors.
Electorates in relatively better-off
member states, on tbe other side, are no longer willing to act as
guarantors of crisis-ridden neighbors.
Moreover, and at least as
relevant, is the rise of political parties and movements across Europe
that see the return to the nation state as a recipe for all kinds of
problems, also for the ones that are not in any way tied to the EU. In
economic terms, the project of European Integration is facing a long-run
period of stagnation or at least of very low economic growth.
Neither
Brussels nor the member states seem to be prepared to work against such a
path or to be prepared for dealing with the underlying forces of shifty
towards a low growth path. The investment initiative of the Juncker
Commission can, at best, be a drop in an empty bucket. In terms of
legitimacy,
European Integration has lost a lot of its appeal, and this
is not only reflected in decreasing participation rates in European
elections but more so in the emerging new form of economic governance
that contradicts basic rules of democratic self-control by potentially
taking away significant political sovereignty in the budget process.
Why Brussels Needs To Read Karl Polanyi
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