Oldal 36 [36]
34] Tamás Dezső Ziegler
background of the integration of European countries is; and c) what we can
learn from the different theories about disintegration in the EU.
When talking about the different forms of integration, we can distinguish
several fields on which European integration has an effect: this is why European
integration is called a multidimensional process (Eppler et al. 2016, 3).? Ina
general sense, integration could refer “to an increase - and disintegration to
a reduction - in the centralization level, policy scope, and membership of the
EU” (Schimmelfennig 2018, 1156), which has an impact in different areas.
First of all, the common market started as a market integration project. If
we read the Spaak Report from 1956, as one of the fundamental documents
of European integration, we find that there was a strong and urgent need to
create a customs union, eliminate quotas in trade, grant free movement to
service providers, support agriculture and trade in agricultural products,
create a competition policy that regulates business practices, and allow the
free movement of workers (Spaak 1956).
Secondly, beyond market integration, economic and monetary integration
also developed extensively. This led to the creation of the monetary union,
a common EU budget, a common currency (the Euro), and the European
Central Bank. It also resulted in convergence criteria within the EU, aimed
at limiting inflation, Member States’ budget deficit, as well as Member States’
debt-to-GDP ratio, and government bonds’ long-term interest rates.
Thirdly, another common aspect of integration is the political integration
of European countries. Through the gradual expansion of their competences,
the EEC/EC and later the EU, and their institutions enjoyed more and more
power to decide. The decision-making procedures have also changed: Member
States have fewer rights to veto decisions, and majority voting has become
the standard rule, though with significant exceptions.
Many areas became regulated by the Member States collectively, which also
has a political aspect: creating a harmonised common foreign policy, granting
free movement to EU citizens, regulating short-term third country visas and
asylum, certain aspects of human rights and the rule of law, establishing
consumer law regulations, or creating EU competence to support higher
education systems in Europe - all can be interpreted as joint political actions
and parts of sovereignty transfers by the Member States. This phenomenon is
called ‘sovereignty pooling’: countries give competences to the EU, or other
international organisations, to make effective decisions (Keohane 2002).
Nevertheless, in sensitive areas, this transformation can generate debates,
or even tensions, among EU members.
* Beyond the EEC/EC and the EU, we can see integrative tendencies in other frameworks as
well: we can think of EFTA countries, the European Economic Area, or trade and economic
cooperation with countries like Turkey. The EU even created a customs union with the
latter country in 1995.
3 In different forms, political integration also exists outside the EU: for instance, the Council
of Europe, including the European Court of Human Rights, or the Organization for Security