Fifteen into one?takes up traditional approaches to political science. Since Aristotle it has been considered useful to compare constitutional and institutional dimensions of polities and not least to discuss ‘optimal’ models of policy-making. In view of the European Union’s multi-level and multi-actor polity, we add to a vast literature¹ by highlighting the complex procedural and institutional set-up of nation states preparing and implementing decisions made by the institutions of the European Community (EC).

Unlike volumes on the general structure and culture of European political systems, this volume focuses onreactions and adaptations to a challengewhich is common to...

The evolution of European integration since 1950 has been considerable. The European Union has gained in stature, taking on and aspiring to new functions across the policy spectrum and challenging the conceptualisation of the evolving structure for joint problem-solving, deliberation and decision-making.

To test different theory-led expectations and their impact on the Member States,¹ in view of the Maastricht Treaty, we proceed in two steps. First, we explore the evolution of EC/EU primary law, e.g. treaty provisions. With regard to the institutional and procedural design ‘before’ and ‘after’ the TEU we scrutinise forms of decision-making rules within the EC/EU from...

For about fifty years, the Belgian policy toward European integration is the most significant demonstration Belgium has made of its commitment to multilateralism and international co-operation in security as well as in economic affairs. Even if Belgium had already illustrated such an orientation through its participation in multilateral trade and monetary co-operation before the Second World War, its security policy, by contrast, had been shaped by the compulsory neutrality imposed on Belgium from 1830 to 1914. To escape from being involved in a new war caused by the rivalry of its great neighbours, Belgium, had returned to neutrality by the...

Attitudes to European integration in Denmark are very complex. A majority of the Danish people support economic integration in Europe as long as it does not affect Danish autonomy too much. Denmark joined the EEC in 1973 after a referendum in October 1972 where 63.4 per cent of the Danish people supported membership. The SEA was ratified after 56.2 per cent of the Danish people supported it in a referendum on 27 February 1986. But the Maastricht Treaty was first voted down by a narrow majority of 50.7 per cent on 2 June 1992. By the time it was accepted...

Germany’s political class is marked by a positive and constructive attitude towards European integration. The main objective of European policy was and still is to achieve effective and democratic European co-operation and integration.³ All governments and the vast majority of political parties contrive their general European policy agenda around the fundamental aim of far-reaching integration towards some kind of political union. Although the diplomatic class does not follow any kind of altruistic or ‘naive’ European policy geared to achieve a European federation, the majority of political actors are reluctant to explicitly play a leading role within the evolving European Union....

Finland joined the European Union together with Austria and Sweden at the beginning of 1995. At first glance, Finnish membership might appear as a rapid change of political orientation, given the inflexible policy of neutrality the country conducted until the early 1990s. In spite of the brevity of national adaptation and consideration, the decision to follow Sweden and submit an application for EU membership was based upon an overwhelming political consensus. All the major political elites, including party and interest organisations, the leadership, key actors in the private sector and the media were in favour of Finnish membership. In the...

When dealing with Greek attitudes towards the process of European integration, one should still bear in mind that in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, Euroscepticism – or even plain anti-European feelings – reigned in a large segment of both the elites and public opinion at large. Communists and radical Socialists depicted European integration as a subjugation mechanism mainly serving US interests – ‘the EEC and NATO are the same barracks’, to translate freely a slogan of that times. Given that after the fall of the Colonels’ regime in the mid-1970s, there was important anti-American sentiment in Greece, Europe was consequently tainted...

Spain’s accession to the EC in 1986¹ was the result of a long political process and the fulfilment of a historical aspiration for Spanish society. For most internal and external observers, Spain’s entry into the Community constituted the final step of the transition process to democracy.² Accession to the Community was supported at that time almost unanimously by all political parties and the different societal actors.³ Such a broad social and political consensus is to be found at the basis of most of the features of the Spanish administrative structure and participation model in the EC/EU decision-making process. Such broad...

Since Maastricht the politicisation of European ‘high politics’ promises to be a very hazardous political venture in France. A newspaper headline such as this from 1991: ‘Government and MPs concerned about French indifference to European integration’,¹ would be inconceivable today. It is not exaggerated to presume that Maastricht stands for a fundamental shift in how the French political system copes with the internal challenges of ‘Europeanisation’.

Many political scientists still like to switch to French studies today, because the case of France serves as an excellent ideal type.² Indeed, France is often cited as an example when it comes to...

Membership of the European Union since 1973 represented for Ireland the achievement of a roof or a shelter for its national project of modernisation. Following a re-assessment of Ireland’s economic policy in 1958, when a decision was taken to pursue external-led economic growth financed by multinational investment, membership of the large European market with its CAP became highly desirable. Economic growth was necessary to alleviate the political and social consequences of low incomes, emigration, high unemployment and low productivity. The highly conscious change marked a reversal of protectionist economic policies. EU membership was about providing Ireland with the opportunities to...

Since the beginning of the European integration process the Italian membership of the Community seems to have been perceived by masses and elites as a kind of higher political good – scholars even speak of the Union as a ‘collective myth’ for Italian society.¹ Besides the deficits in the country’s day-to-day performance in EC policies – e.g. in the implementation of EC law – Italian society has broadly shared basically positive attitudes towards the European integration process and its outcomes in the pre-and post-Maastricht years.² Questioned byEurobarometerover a long time period, large majorities (+ 70 per cent) believed membership of the...

With 406,000 inhabitants and a surface area of 2.586 km², Luxembourg is by far the smallest Member State of the European Union. The highly positive attitude of the Luxembourg people towards the Union, expressed, for example, in theEurobarometersurveys which are carried out on a regular basis, can be explained not merely by Luxembourg’s history, but also by the specific characteristics related to its small size. In this sense, the European Union as a community of peace contributed substantially to both strengthening Luxembourg’s oft-challenged national autonomy² and to compensating for the disadvantages of the small national market. As one...

The involvement of the Dutch in European integration dates back to the 1950s, and so do the Dutch attitudes towards it. Over the years, they have changed, but there is also a long-standing support for the overall process of European integration. A clear distinction, however, should be drawn between the elite and the general public. For the general public, European integration in the 1950s was a good cause, to be left to the experts and to the elite. Until the mid-1960s, when the system of pillarisation¹ was still in force, the general public was quite willing to leave politics to...

Austria’s attitude towards the (West) European integration process after 1945 has been ambivalent at best.¹ The Second Republic was designed as a democratic system, based on political pluralism and party competition. However, its political culture and its real character (Realverfassung), because of its strong corporatist elements, developed into the typical features of the specific ‘Austrian model’. The first steps towards post-war recovery and re-integration into the international community were largely shaped by participation in the European Recovery Programme. The amazing economic success of the first decades after the occupation by the four Allies (until 1955) helped to create a stable...

Portugal joined the European Communities in 1986, following a process of negotiations that had lasted eight years. The request for membership was made in March 1977, at a time when the country was still deeply engaged in the process of democratic transition. Internally, the European option was considered to be decisive to the consolidation of democracy. Shortly after the 25 April 1977 coup d’état, the democratic parties, and especially the socialist party (Partido Socialista, PS), began to use the slogan ‘Europe is with us’, which played a major role in the consolidation of Portuguese democracy.

This political option was clearly...

Scholars of the European Union must lift the lid off the ‘black box’ of domestic politics to understand the behaviour of Member States in the integration processes. In this chapter, we will move inside the Swedish polity by analysing domestic constraints and institutional characteristics. The overarching aim is to capture the fundamentals of Sweden as an EU member, thereby identifying the primary actors involved in the policycycle. Joining late, Sweden has faced strong pressures of adaptation both at the state and societal levels. As the Union has advanced and become an increasingly complex organisation, countries seeking membership and new Member...

European integration has represented one of the most fundamental challenges for politics in the United Kingdom since 1945. Integration has highlighted the problems of, and possibilities for, the re-orientation of foreign policy as part of the United Kingdom’s post-war descent from world power status. The ‘Monnet method’ of supranational integration raised constitutional concerns for a state which had elevated territorial integrity and parliamentary sovereignty to key normative principles of its institutional order.¹ Integration has at different times divided the main political parties internally as well as being a source of division between them, from the ratification of accession right through...

The growth and differentiation of the institutional and procedural system of the European Union has created considerable challenges for all Member States.¹ The very nature of the process of European integration is a continuing pooling of sovereignty, and a transfer of responsibilities and authorities, which has enlarged the range of policy areas dealt with by the Union through para-constitutional communitarisation. This process has led to institutional and procedural differentiation and a subsequent widening of the functional scope of integration in the form of sectoral differentiation. Moreover, this enlargement of the EU’s policymaking scope has brought into play a growing number...