[FR] An increasingly differentiated Union

The Union and its various levels of integration, a process of gradual enlargement, association with third countries and the emergence of new forms of cooperation are creating an increasingly complex and fluid mosaic of relations between countries on the continent.

The debate on the European project has always pitted enlargement against deepening. A choice must be made between welcoming as many countries on the continent as possible into the European Union or sharing or even transferring a growing number of competences to this level, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. The United Kingdom, before Brexit, and France, before the war in Ukraine, have long embodied this antagonism, with the former encouraging the entry of new Member States while Paris launched new ideas for integration and expressed concern that enlargement would lead to a headlong rush that would be detrimental to the European project. In short, an ever-wider Union versus an ever-closer Union. What if, in the future, the Union were to become ever more differentiated in practice?

Historically, differentiation has been an integral part of European integration. It allows the most motivated to lead the way in integration, which has long been the approach of Germany and France. It allows others to respectfully stand aside while remaining in the Union, which has been the traditional position of the northern countries. Those in Central and Eastern Europe, on the other hand, instinctively fear that these distinctions in levels of integration will relegate them to second-class Member States. But these three types of approaches have faded over time.