The return of politics: the European Union after the crises in the Eurozone and Ukraine

Abstract:

A crisis can reveal characteristics of a political order which in normal times remain invisible. Two such moments of clarification hit European Union (EU) countries in quick succession.

The euro crisis tested the resolve of leaders and peoples to save the single currency.
The geopolitical standoff around Ukraine necessitated a joint response to a show of force.

In both cases we saw a ‘return of politics’. Geopolitical interests trumped economic ones; a need for government (and not just governance) made itself felt; European politics became more salient and intertwined with domestic politics. In the turmoil, notwithstanding calls for a big leap toward greater unity, the European Union also showed its dynamic in-between nature.

The public perceives this politicisation perfectly, hence both its disenchantment and the calls for more democracy. EU integration, after ‘permissive consensus’ and ‘constraining dissensus’, could be moving to the era of binding dissensus.