Why the EU has become more Supranational

This paper takes issue with recent scholarship that presents the EU as having drifted with more intergovernmental modes of governance in its attempts to respond to the dangers that threatened the Euro. It argues that key elements of the response to the crisis have considerably strengthened two supranational institutions, i.e. the Commission, now in a position to play a more active role in macro-economic policy, and the European Central bank, whose mandate has been de facto and de jure considerably enlarged. It also attempts to explain how such a development has been possible, considering the lack of appetite for further integration amongst the national governments and in the general public, and discusses its implications for the future.