Reaction of Loukas Tsoukalis to Andrew Moravcsik’s article on the collapse of the Constitutional treaty

Moravcsik is absolutely right in observing that the European constitutional project failed to mobilize citizens across our member countries and generate support for further integration. And how could it? The term constitution is clearly a misnomer, changes in Council voting procedures and rotating presidencies may be a step in the direction of better delivery but hardly the stuff that excites most people, while the policy part of the old treaty remained virtually the same. Practical changes were presented as a major political project, and they backfired – at best, they met with indifference.

Does this mean that politicization of European integration is a dead duck? Moravcsik argues that the greatest tactical advantage of the EU is that it is so boring, and it should continue being so.

European integration has been the product of an elitist conspiracy with good intentions and pretty remarkable results. So far so good. It is, however, unlikely to continue in the same way for a number of reasons. The continuous expansion in terms of membership and policy functions of the EU has increased internal diversity, while multiplying the effects of decisions taken by European institutions on the everyday life of citizens. In times of big economic restructuring at the world level, the number of losers within member countries tends to grow. Real, potential or even imaginary losers constitute a significant section of our populations in a period characterized by big and rapid change. Many of them view European integration as a vehicle of the dreaded globalization, and they turn against it. The problem lies within countries and not so much between countries; and it is much bigger and more intractable than in earlier periods.