THE CRISIS PHENOMENA IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Dabić Dragana (Autorka je istraživač-saradnik u Institutu za međunarodnu politiku i privredu u Beogradu), ddabic@diplomacy.bg.ac.rs

The article examines the importance of the crisis phenomena in the context of the progress of integration processes, that is, the centralization of competencies at the European decision-making level. To answer the questions of whether the integration is moving forward through crises and whether crises have truly been a positive stress test for the European Union, as it is sometimes referred to in the literature, the responses to the preceding crises are analyzed. The choice fell on the crises that historians of European integration have identified as the most serious. Particular emphasis is placed on the consequences of the latest Union crisis. Whether it is portrayed as the most serious economic crisis in the history of a European project, or the uncertain transformation of an ineffective and democracy deficient European multi-level governance system that has been in force for more than a decade, the Eurozone crisis has had far-reaching political consequences. Various narratives are also considered regarding the Union’s definitive way out from the crisis. The paper concludes the integration has progressed, both as a result of measures taken for the sake of crises and as a result of other factors not strictly related to crises. It is not advisable to ascertain that the growing interdependence of the European people, initiated as a result of institutional responses to crises, is desirable or useful without a qualitative examination of the political order within which it is achieved.

Keywords: European Union crisis, History of European integration, The empty chair crisis, Jean Monnet, European post-crisis system of governance, European integration theories