The EU’s resource integration dilemma: A competence-control perspective on the rise of joint capacities

Many problems the EU is faced with require material resources (money, border officers, equipment, administrators etc.) rather than rules to solve them. However, the member states as the collective governors of the EU face a dilemma regarding the mobilization and integration of resources. If goal divergence among them is low, European resource mobilization is theoretically possible because control requirements are low. However, in this constellation it is often easier to rely on the coordination of existing resources of the member states. As a result, there is no to little resource integration (e.g. military assistance to Ukraine). If goal divergence among them is high, demands for control are also high as resource integration is costly, symbolically important and empowers the EU institutions. As a result, there is no to little resource integration (e.g. joint energy supply in the 2020s and in the 1970s). If resource integration happens, it is either highly specific (e.g. the Galileo navigation system), symbolic (e.g. the EU Chips etc.) or joint, i.e. cases in which the EU and the member states provide resources and/or control them (e.g. the EEAS, Frontex etc.). We argue that this outcome is explained by the interplay of a competence-driven logic of public goods creation and a control-driven logic of redistribution. The integration of resources increases the importance of the logic of redistribution and makes the provision of European resources difficult and subject to strong controls.