What does research on Europeanisation tell us about the EU policy, politics and polity?

Abstract

Speakers: Claudio Radaelli (European University Institute) Marina Cino Pagliarello (European University Institute) Discussant: Stella Ladi (Queen Mary University of London) Europeanisation is a well-established research agenda. In this talk, we appraise its status today: What is its status today, where are the blind spots, and what does this agenda tell us about integration and dis-integration? A massive EU intervention post-pandemic, with the Next Generation EU, has given the European Commission the power of the purse, thus removing the financial constraints of the regulatory state. At the same time, the EU regulatory state is getting even bigger, with the digital single market, the regulation of artificial intelligence, and of course the Green Deal. Higher education policies carry strategies of soft diplomacy in the domain of knowledge and innovation. The Green Deal moves the wheels of Europeanisation forward. Yet, the second von der Leyen’s Commission and the political climate generated by the Draghi report bring back an emphasis on competitiveness. De-Europeanisation looms large in the field of rights, with member states like Hungary removing the EU acquis in terms of diversity of media, rights of minorities, and independent courts. These days, this is the most serious threat to Europeanisation. The recurring, sometimes overlapping presence of different internal and external crises affects the nature of Europeanisation. Rather than thinking in dualistic terms (Europeanisation vs. de-Europeanisation) we draw on crisis theory and polity formation theory to make the case for the cyclical nature of the politics of integration. If the crisis is the new normal, then episodes in reverse gear should be observed frequently, without this necessarily destroying the integration project. Europeanisation is a process of (re)definition of boundaries, authority, and bonds characteristic of polity maintenance. We conclude with the blind spots: Europeanisation is silent on the normative dimension. We also need more research on the connections between differentiated integration, the lack of convergence observed in studies of Europeanisation, and the final implications of such a diverse EU for the historical trajectory of integration.