Page 36 [36]
OCR
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
