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Draghi wants real decision-making power in Europe, not a federal Big Bang (www.chathamhouse.org)

submitted 1 week ago by HowRu68@lemmy.world to c/europa@lemmy.world

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Instead, he [ Draghi] aims pragmatically at some immediate initiatives for true integration in areas such as defence, industrial policy, taxation or foreign affairs, for states willing to do so. If necessary outside the Union, and without other members preventing them from doing so, but leaving them the choice of joining later.

Draghi’s federalistic approach comes down to the kind experienced through the Schengen Agreement on free movement, which started among five countries in 1985 and was first legally established outside the EU. Yet this time, it is about competences as stark as defence.

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[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Just as the term ‘constitution’ in 2005 diverted attention from the purpose of a treaty that was essentially codifying existing European legal texts, the term ‘federalism’ can unnecessarily inflame, divide, and polarize, when its ‘pragmatic’ nature should draw just as much attention.

It's true. Those referendums were basically undone by this single word. Which is already much less scary than the F-word. After decades of peace and comfort Europeans have just become very conservative.

Asymmetric initiatives like he suggests are probably the only way forward at this point. As I understand it there's already a mechanism in the EU treaty for it.