The European Union at the crossroads. The EU’s institutional evolution from the Schuman Plan to the European Convention, 2nd ed.

Book abstract:

The European Union will grow to twenty five Member States on 1 May 2004. Will the institutions of the European Union be robust enough to bear the additional strain brought on by a 66% increase in membership? How have those institutions evolved and adapted to cope with the changing nature of the Union through various Treaties? This book seeks to answer those questions and others arising from the Community method of the 1950s.

The integration process has passed through hoops and stumbled over obstacles, refining and defining itself in the Single European Act and the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice, each one moving the Union closer to a time when it will speak with one voice in world affairs. That process or progress is analysed in these pages and questions raised about the future direction of the European Union.

The work will interest scholars, students, policy researchers engaged in European Union studies and integration politics.

Professor Youri Devuyst teaches Politics and Institutions of the European Union at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels).