Core Internal and External Challenges to European Integration

Over recent years, the EU has had to deal with an increasing number of internal and external challenges. Internally, the EU is still grappling with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the migration crisis, and the exit of the UK, as well as the populist and illiberal challenge to the EU’s core values of democracy and the rule of law. The manifestations of some of these crises have been so prolonged and recurring that they raise the question of whether they represent systemic flaws that call into question the long-term prospects of European integration. At the same time, we have witnessed a renewed momentum behind integration, for instance, with the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, the European Green Deal, new initiatives in the area of energy such as REPowerEU, candidate status granted to Ukraine and Moldova, and increasing public support for EU integration. Externally, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the return of war to Europe poses one of the biggest challenges to the EU, not only as a security actor, but also in other areas such as energy, food security and refugee protection, to mention a few. The war is taking place in a more geopolitically charged international context where actors such as China and Russia regularly contest the foundations of the liberal and multilateral international order. While transatlantic relations have improved with the Biden Presidency, the potential return of a more isolationist and illiberal administration still constitutes a real possibility. With these external challenges putting into question the EU’s regulatory and soft power, we have seen the emergence of new narratives regarding the need to foster strategic autonomy and a more geopolitical Union.