EU model is difficult to replicate

The European Union took a major step when its 27 member-states signed the Lisbon Treaty...

The European Union took a major step when its 27 member-states signed the Lisbon Treaty, signalling their resolve to make the EU a more coherent organisation. The new treaty incorporates most of the changes that were proposed by the constitutional framework, which was rejected by the French and Dutch voters two years ago. The EU will now have a new permanent president. The plans to have a European flag, anthem and other symbols have been kept aside to reach consensus on issues that can help Europe gain a new political traction. A post of foreign policy czar is also in the offing as is the decision to have more decisions by majority voting.

While this signals the resolve of the Europeans to keep the 50-year-old institution going, despite occasional setbacks, public disenchantment with the institution is also at an all-time high — 75 per cent of Europeans want a referendum on any treaty giving EU more powers. There are fears in the established member-states that economic migrants from the new members are flooding their economies, driving wages downward and unemployment up and straining their fragile welfare systems. There is also a feeling in many East European countries that they have been given second-class status a members of EU. Their citizens will not enjoy the freedom to work in any member-state. They are also being forced to make substantial economic adjustments before they can use the euro and have to adopt to a plethora of EU laws, like cleaning up the environment. There will also be pressure on them to lend support to EU’s foreign and security policies despite many among them being pro-US.

EU remains a weak military power. Its attempts to forge a common European Security and Defence Policy, involving the creation of a European Force formally independent of NATO, have not made much progress. The US has not reacted positively to this, arguing that it will lead to duplication of capabilities and discrimination against those members of the NATO who are not EU members. It is not clear, however, whether the European force can in any way compete with NATO’s technological sophistication. Certainly it will be a long time before Europe can develop military muscle independent of NATO. The bottom line is that even the enlarged EU will continue to suffer from a lack of political cohesion and diplomatic weight vis-à-vis the US.

Story continues below this ad

Europe’s considerable achievement at regional integration has raised interesting theoretical issues and important practical conundrums. So can the EU experience hold lessons for other countries? When the economic integration in Europe was in its nascent stages, neo-functionalists had argued that regional economic integration would create its own momentum, leading to the devolution of authority to a central institution. Realists had responded saying that people might get linked with economic integration but this didn’t mean political amalgamation.

Historically, interstate power and security relations as well as multilateral institutions have played a key role in shaping regionalism. But equally important is how regionalism affects patterns of conflict and cooperation among states. An argument can be made that regional economic arrangements have made significant progress in those areas where the security dilemma has been largely taken care of. The EU is a case in point. The presence of US troops in Europe has emerged as a prerequisite for its smooth functioning by keeping in check the security competition among key countries. The case of NAFTA also shows the importance of a hegemon, or a large economy, as the driving force behind regional economic integration.

At the same time, the relative failure of regional economic arrangements in South Asia and Africa has a lot to do with the security dilemmas these regions face. For instance, despite India being the largest economy in South Asia, it has not been able to push forward regional economic integration primarily because of its strained relations with Pakistan. So how far can we generalise from the EU experience? Is it the case that we need similar levels of development and kinds of political regimes if regional arrangements are to work? It seems that the case of European economic integration, though illuminating, has limited utility for the world.

It remains to be seen if the will of the Europeans will be able to resist the will of the elites who have tried to bring in the rejected European constitution through the back door with the Lisbon Treaty.

Story continues below this ad

The writer teaches at King’s College, Londonharsh. pant@kcl.ac.uk