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Introduction0EuropeanPoliciesandChange
intheEUIntegrationModel
TomaszGrzegorzGrosse
InstituteofEuropeanStudies
FacultyofPoliticalScienceandInternationalStudies
UniversityofWarsaw
Introduction
Overdecades,thebasicintegrationmodelinEuropewastheso-calledCommunity
model,basedonrelativebalancebetweenvariousEuropeaninstitutionsandthegradual-
lyincreasingautonomyfromintergovernmentalinstitutionsoftheCommunityinstitu-
tions(suchastheEuropeanCommission[EC]ortheEuropeanParliament[EP]).Aspart
oftheCommunitymodel,abalanceofpowerbetweenthelargestMemberStatesand
thesmalleroneswasmaintained.TheguarantorsofthatbalanceweretheCommunity
institutionsandthecohesionoftheEUregulatorysystem.Thefundamentalprincipleof
themodelinquestionwassolidaritywithweakerparticipantsinEuropeanintegration.
DuringtheEurozonecrisis(whichstartedin2010),theCommunitymodelbecame
subjecttoerosion(Fabbrini,2015b:19;Schmidt,2015).Anewintegrationmodelbegan
toemerge,aspartofwhichthestrongestMemberStatesenjoyincreasingpolitical
influence(formalandinformal).Soitwasthatanasymmetryofpowerbetween
intergovernmentalinstitutionsandotherEuropeaninstitutionstookshape.Some
scholarsbelievethatutheroleoftheCommissionhasbeenreducedtoasecretariat”
forintergovernmentalinstitutions,whereasutheParliamenthasbeenmarginalised”
(Schmidt,2015:91,111).Thedistanceinthehierarchybetweenthestrongestcountries
andthesmaller,politicallyweakerorgeographicallyperipheraloneshasgrownlarger.
Anotherconcomitantprocesshasbeenincreasingpoliticalsegmentationintodifferent
integrationcirclesintheEU,inaccordancewiththemechanismofautwo-speedEurope.”
Thisprocesshasbeengroundedinthestrengthenedpoliticalroleandprogressing
institutionalisationcharacterisingtheeuroarea,aswellasaterritorialandpolitical
divisionintocentralandperipheralcountries.
Itisunclearwhethertheaforementionedchangesinintegrationprocessesatatime
ofcrisisaretemporaryorpermanent;andwhethertheyhaveimplicationsthatmaybe
deemedsystemic(inthattheyrelatetoEurope’spoliticalsystem).Itisalsouncertain
howparticularEUpolicieshavebeenandareaffected.
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