The European Union faces an existentialist crisis that tests its very foundations. The crisis has two interrelated aspects, both of which challenge the vision of a borderless Europe. First, the protracted Eurozone crisis has undermined the ideal of a single market, which is the bedrock of the European project. Integrating monetary policies, while fiscal policies remained under the control of sovereign member states, has resulted in growing tensions both within and between EU member states. Second, the refugee crisis threatens the vision of freedom of movement, as EU member states seek to regain (some) control over their borders.
Both aspects of the crisis brought into sharp relief one of the key challenges of recent integration history. While national boundaries in the EU have been losing importance owing to the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 (e.g. the creation of European citizenship and the introduction of the common currency) and the Schengen agreement of 1995, more and more people in Europe feel uneasy about their nation states’ diminishing capacity for self-government. Such challenges are not unique to Europe; the difficulty of balancing economic integration, national sovereignty and democracy confronts all states in a highly globalised world. Nevertheless, the EU’s relatively high level of integration, combined with a strong ideological commitment to democracy and an ongoing struggle to legitimate itself, means that these challenges are magnified for the Union as a supranational entity and for its constituent states.
Where does sovereignty lie in the EU? This is a question that Europe’s leaders have never fully addressed, let alone resolved, but it took on new urgency in 2015-16. Both the euro crisis and the refugee crisis highlight the EU’s sovereignty paradox: member states have ceded too much control to the supranational level to be able to set effective policies in important areas independently of each other and of the Union institutions. Yet, they retain enough initiative to resist compromise and thwart common solutions. Thus, the efforts of national and European leaders to deal with economic challenges and the unprecedented influx of migrants share certain features. These include the inability to agree on binding common policies, the unintended and unwanted elevation of Germany to the preeminent leadership position, and a widespread populist backlash – particularly in those states in which a loss of sovereign control is most acutely perceived. Place, geography and boundaries remain very salient in contemporary Europe.
