The Euro crisis: Ins and outs – Multi-speed Europe?

This paper forms part of a series of working papers on the euro crisis by leading Irish commentators.

Written by Dr Paul Gillespie, the paper revisits studies and debates on European integration since the 1970s to propose three major norms and three categories of decision-making structures which are useful for understanding and classifying what is at stake in negotiations on the euro zone’s future structure. It goes on to apply them to contemporary events and options. It then examines how Ireland’s interests and values are affected in the three different cases and assesses the implications for Irish policy of those choices. It concludes with some thoughts on their wider implications for Europe’s role in a period of rapid multi-polar change in global politics.