8 What Is at Stake?

Abstract

Author Webpage More than fifty years after it all began, regional integration in Europe has developed into a complex system, with no precedent in history and no rival in other parts of the contemporary world. Old and new nation‐states in Europe have joined in: some still anxiously waiting in the antechamber and only a very few willingly staying out (for how long?). Successive rounds of deepening and widening, meaning in plain English that regional integration becomes ever closer and also extends into new areas of policy while membership continues to grow, constitute the best proof of success. The European Union is very much alive and delivering the goods, perhaps against the odds and contrary to all kinds of doomsday scenarios. Unlike empires in the past, European integration is centred on democratic systems and the principle of free association. No country has been forced to join or stay against the collective will of its citizens. It must therefore be judged as satisfying real needs, at least for a sufficient number of people, in government, among interest groups, or among simple citizens who have been ready to lend it their active or passive support.