The Conference on the Future of Europe and EU Reform: Limits of Differentiated Integration

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Abstract: There is considerable uncertainty about the outcome of the planned Conference on the Future of Europe, especially regarding possible treaty change. This contribution to the Dialogue comments on the possibility of an intergovernmental agreement outside the EU treaty framework on the basis of theoretical and empirical knowledge about differentiated integration. It argues that such an agreement would deviate from the traditional logic of differentiated integration venues, and that differentiated integration is generally of limited value for overcoming decision-making blockades on constitutional and redistributive issues.

Keywords: Conference on the Future of Europe – differentiated integration – European Union – institutional reform – ratification – treaty revision.

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European Papers, Vol. 5, 2020, No 2, pp. 989-998
ISSN
2499-8249 - doi: 10.15166/2499-8249/409

* Professor of European Politics, ETH Zurich, frank.schimmelfennig@eup.gess.ethz.ch.

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