Politicization as an (Un)Intended Consequence of the European Union in Crisis?

  • Abstract:

    Crises have been endemic to the process of European integration and to the deepening of its policy and institutional integration. The recent history of European integration does demonstrate that crises have had contradictory results. While institutional reforms which were adopted in response to the Euro crisis seem to reinforce technocratic and authoritarian form of economic governance and sustain an intended dynamics of depoliticization at the European level, policy reforms have fueled a rather unintended dynamics of (re)politicization at the national level. This gives rise to a paradoxical situation characterized by the post-functionalist and politicized phase of the European integration process and the functionalist and depoliticized character of the European Union. These dynamics in turn challenge the mainstream view of crises as an opportunity to restructure the EU polity.