Setting the bounds of the European Union. EPC Discussion Paper 10 March 2020

Duff, Andrew (2020) Setting the bounds of the European Union. EPC Discussion Paper 10 March 2020. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

How large should the European Union (EU) be? And what shape should it take? These are not new questions but have recently taken on a new form and seek to be answered with a sense of urgency that has been missing for some years. French President Macron can be held primarily responsible for this shift of emphasis. He wants an EU that is conscious of, indeed self-confident about, its own sovereignty. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s claim to be running a “geopolitical Commission” plays into Macron’s argument: she was, after all, his choice for the top job. But a sovereign Union strutting its stuff on the world stage needs to have established a pretty firm view about where its own territory starts and stops, what values it aims to propagate on the global stage, and which interests it intends to advance vis-à-vis those of its international partners and rivals. The purpose of assuming EU sovereignty is to better protect the security of its states and citizens. It implies an intention to adopt a more proactive stance. Even if the Union still lacks all the attributes of a federal state, its claim to sovereignty is an important further step in the federal direction. A sovereign polity is in need of a government, and in particular a foreign policy. The innovation of Union sovereignty as a supplement to, if not a substitute for, national sovereignty should also contribute to a strengthening of civic rights that flow from the concept of EU citizenship

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