The Impact of European Integration on the Westphalian Concept of National Sovereignty

Summary:

Throughout the process of European integration, the dilemmas over preserving or pooling sovereignty were in focus in respect to the constant interplay of intergovernmental or supranational approaches of constructing institutional and legal architecture of the Communities later, the European Union (EU). Hence, Member States, especially larger ones were very keen on retaining their sovereignty vis-à-vis European institutions, which on the other hand, intended to enhance integration in a wide range of fields through centralizing power at the core of the Union.

Nevertheless, the strong stance of leading supranational institutions, such as the European Commission (EC) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ), aims to provide one voice in the world regarding range of issues, while at the same time ensuring wealth, peace, stability and progress among European citizens. Thus, while allowing and giving more discretion to the institutions of the EU, Member States have by default given up some parts of their sovereignty, and the question here is to what extent and how it is manifested? Does it mean that the concept of national sovereignty has changed? Recent crises have again cast light on this specific issue with the emergence of challenging times in the European integration process.

The study is centered on analyzing how countries have reacted to pulls on sovereignty at the EU level in order to bring wealth to its citizens. Germany, Switzerland and Montenegro, all have different roles and different levels of integration with the EU, but they are all obliged to respect specific conditions or rules if they want to sustain or further develop that particular relation.