Is European Union Undermining the Sovereignty of Its Individual Member States?
8. Is European Union undermining the sovereignty of its individual member states?
In order to give an answer to the question above, it is worth mentioning that the two key points that this essay will analyse [the EU and the notion of sovereignty] are both really hard to define from just one point of view, therefore different theories will be taken into account to give a complete and fulfilling outlook of the effect that the creation of the European Union had given to the concept of modern sovereignty among its member states. The essay will start with an introduction of the creation, shaping and then integration of the European Union, it will then move on trying to define what the EU and sovereignty really are, underlining the changes and innovations throughout history to eventually get to the solution that the answer can be found in the middle: yes, in some ways the member states are consciously letting the European Union undermine their individual sovereignty; but also no, because at the same time the EU is not a federation. So, member states are both sovereign and not (Hedetoft 2005). The United States of Europe imagined by Churchill is still a daydream (Pinder 2001:1). Plenty of writers and philosophers tried to analyse and give sense to the historical, cultural [and recently economical] links European states have always had [like Spinelli’s Crocodile Club] (Nelsen and Stubb 2003:91-92 and Bainbridge 1998:113). Churchill was definitely not the first nor the last one to believe in it and, as we can see, Victor Hugo anticipated him in his ‘opening speech of the Peace Congress’ saying:
A day will come when you, France, Italy, England, Germany – all of you, nations of the Continent, will, without losing your distinctive qualities and your glorious individuality, be blended into a superior unity, and constitute an European fraternity […]. A day will come when the only battlefield will be the market open to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas. A day will
In order to give an answer to the question above, it is worth mentioning that the two key points that this essay will analyse [the EU and the notion of sovereignty] are both really hard to define from just one point of view, therefore different theories will be taken into account to give a complete and fulfilling outlook of the effect that the creation of the European Union had given to the concept of modern sovereignty among its member states. The essay will start with an introduction of the creation, shaping and then integration of the European Union, it will then move on trying to define what the EU and sovereignty really are, underlining the changes and innovations throughout history to eventually get to the solution that the answer can be found in the middle: yes, in some ways the member states are consciously letting the European Union undermine their individual sovereignty; but also no, because at the same time the EU is not a federation. So, member states are both sovereign and not (Hedetoft 2005). The United States of Europe imagined by Churchill is still a daydream (Pinder 2001:1). Plenty of writers and philosophers tried to analyse and give sense to the historical, cultural [and recently economical] links European states have always had [like Spinelli’s Crocodile Club] (Nelsen and Stubb 2003:91-92 and Bainbridge 1998:113). Churchill was definitely not the first nor the last one to believe in it and, as we can see, Victor Hugo anticipated him in his ‘opening speech of the Peace Congress’ saying:
A day will come when you, France, Italy, England, Germany – all of you, nations of the Continent, will, without losing your distinctive qualities and your glorious individuality, be blended into a superior unity, and constitute an European fraternity […]. A day will come when the only battlefield will be the market open to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas. A day will
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