The Demoi-cratic justifiability of differentiated Integration in a Heterogeneous EU

Earlier scholarship assumed differentiated integration (DI) was pragmatic and temporary and that member states should and would converge on the same policies. This article instead contends that many instances of DI can be normatively justified on democratic grounds of fairness, impartiality and equity as suitable ways to accommodate economic, social and cultural heterogeneity. We distinguish between instrumental, constitutional and legislative differentiation and relate them respectively to problems of proportionality, partiality and difference. We argue that in so far as the member states have either a heterogeneity of stakes in EU level collective decisions reflecting their economic and social heterogeneity, or apply to them a heterogeneity of constitutional norms, reflecting their cultural heterogeneity, then fairness and impartiality in decision-making and the equity of the decisions themselves justify respectively instrumental, constitutional and legislative forms of DI.