Experientcia docet? Federalist Models in EU policy making

For many decades studies on European integration have been dominated by the intergovernmental/supranational dichotomy, while federal theory has been side-lined in debates. It even held a long near-taboo status and has ever since been associated exclusively with the creation of powerful supranational institutions. Yet federalism is one of the ‘old’ theories of integration and had a profound impact on the thinking of the ‘founding fathers’ of Europe, such as Monnet, Spinelli and even Churchill. It is thus high time to resurrect federalism and reinterpret it for what it really is: a useful lens through which to look at the organisation and development of the EU, apart from any ambition to create a ‘United States of Europe’. 

Today EU federalism is confronted with two problems: as a theory it is often too prescriptive and only pays attention to ideal-type federations, while as a political project it is still considered taboo and finds resistance from all sides. This paper will therefore attempt to establish a new model for the study of EU federalism. Considering federalism more as a process rather than as a fixed ‘type’, it rejects the idea of EU federalism as a process towards a European ‘super state’. Rather, it understands federalism as a continuum that ranges between the ideal-types of state-centred cooperation on the one end and centralised federation on the other. In between these extremes various dynamics are at work, often simultaneously pushing the system in both directions at once.