Political Aspects of the Economic Monetary Union by Soren Zibrandt von Dosenrode-Lynge

Author:Soren Zibrandt von Dosenrode-Lynge [Dosenrode-Lynge, Soren Zibrandt von]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9781351746328
Google: evhKDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-02-06T04:41:18+00:00

Increased 'Politization' and its Influence on EU's Institutional Development

The most likely development will probably be that the EMU gets into some kinds of crises, but that the states and the EU attempts to solve these (see Hoffmeyer In this book). It is very important whether the political systems at the various levels, also the EU-level, are responsive to the problems which arise. In many ways the general democracy in the EU will be tested: is it able to produce practical answers to the problems? Can it be avoided that the rather centralized power structure of the EU develops with too great a distance to (the) people's real problems?

We should expect to experience a 'politicization' in the EU. By 'politicization' we mean that a question becomes controversial in the sense that it is debated between important actors. One might also say that it becomes an issue in a political system. We can expect more issues in EU's political system and also questions which call for negotiations and action. Probably, major issues can be expected for instance in relation to the structural and redistributive policies of the EU. Demands for stronger or different redistributive policies in the EU might trigger new problems and affect the balances between the EU member states. Politicization will most likely take place within the EU and in the different societies, leading to greater cleavages between groups.

The increased political controversies will probably influence EU's institutional development. An important perspective is that if the EU is to become a more efficient political system, it has to develop institutions which — even better than now — are able to deal with controversial issues on a permanent basis. It is an interesting question how politicized problems related to the EMU are to be treated in EU's institutional system? As it is today, the strong political structure that could match the ECB is lacking. Some changes have happened in the direction of stronger political structures, but further changes must be expected. EU's institutional structure cannot be seen as being inflexible. Rather, we are dealing with a dynamic system, and in some ways the EU is a political battle-ground for competition between different strategies.

Now, it is already part of the EU debate that the institutional structure of the union should be changed. The intergovernmental conference in Nice decided on some changes and initiated a new debate which is to lead to major changes on a new conference in 2004. Probably, it will be very difficult to distinguish between the institutional changes which will stem from the EMU and the changes which might have other causes. The EU already has a dilemma in regard to enlargement and changing decision structures. On the one hand, an enlargement of the EU without significant changes in the institutional structure will probably water out EU's decision-making system. On the other hand, if the wish for deeper integration is accepted of some countries, it will be necessary with increased 'flexibility'. And this implies an internal split within the EU in which the member states in reality are ascribed different status.

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