Europe between Rules and Discretion

Often the European Union is pictured as a tightly rules-bound order, made and administered through law. In the ongoing Euro crisis, a quite different image of the EU comes through, in which executive discretion is to the fore. The paper looks at these two faces of the EU and discusses how to understand their relation. Is one more authentic than the other? How do rules and discretion connect to one another - indeed how easily is the distinction maintained?  The paper argues for an interdependence view: rules generate the need for discretion and vice versa. The aim is to put the EU's current difficulties in a new light, and to explore some of the implications for democratic control.