Polity, Politics, Policies
J. Ignacio Torreblanca
August 1, 2006
Finding a solution to a problem most typically requires agreement on what causes the problem. The trouble to reach agreement on what to do around the current crisis which the European Union is suffering may be well visualized with the aid of this three-fold distinction about “Polity”, “Politics” and “Policies”.
Is it the European Polity? One can argue that the Union needs new institutions, new rules of the game, i.e. a full-fledged Constitution, a thorough parliamentarization of executive-legislative relations (Parliament and Commission) and a cuasi-federal design to allow it to cope with the expanded membership brought about by successive enlargement processes. Therefore, institutional design should be the priority.
Or the politics of integration? But one can also pose that the problems faced by the Union are just a question of “politics”, i.e. weak or opportunistic leadership. The Union has been through similar crises, but these were solved when men like Delors, Kohl, Mitterrand and González were able to look ahead, take some electoral risks and conclude great treaty negotiations. After all, one can argue, EU integration is about trade-offs: the Common Agricultural Policy in return from the free circulation of goods; the euro in return from citizenship and cohesion policies, etc. Those waiting for convergence of preferences to take place, for a demos to emerge, or for a polity to take shape, can thus sit for long. EU politics, as ordinary politics, is about who gets, what, when and how. The crisis will thus not be “solved”, but negotiated.
Or may be integration policies? Finally, one can argue that the Union’s ills must be looked for in the realm of policies. There is a demand for integration and a supply of integration policies which does not match. Citizens want wealth (jobs, low interest rates, etc), security (crime, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, pandemias etc) and identity (maintaining their way of life in the face of rapidly changing societies, as a result of globalization, ageing, immigration, etc.). However, the EU does very little in these realms, and it is not likely to do much. However, the only way to legitimize the Union upon the eyes of Europeans is through
concrete achievements.
Easy choice, isn´t it?
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI | bookmark on del.icio.us.
Leave a comment
Advertencia de Protección de Datos:
Los datos personales capturados con ocasión de la utilización del formulario de comentarios (nombre/apodo, dirección de correo electrónico, sitio web y dirección IP), serán incluidos en un fichero del propietario del sitio web y se publicarán (excepto su dirección de correo electrónico y su dirección IP) en esta página con la finalidad de permitir opinar públicamente al lector, así como para en su caso contestar al comentario o consultas que formule. Podrá ejercitar sus derechos de acceso, de rectificación, de cancelación y de oposición en lo referido a dichos datos personales dirigiendo un correo electrónico a la dirección: datos.personales@blogeuropa.eu.
----
Privacy notice:
Please be informed that by using the comments form, your personal data (name/nickname, e-mail address, website and IP address), will be included in a file owned by the website proprietor and published along your comment (except for your e-mail and IP addresses), in order for the reader to publicly comment, as well as -should that be the case-, to respond to any comment or query that readers may have made. You will be able to exercise your rights to access, rectify, cancel and oppose such personal data by sending an e-mail to the following address: datos.personales@blogeuropa.eu.