The State of the European Union. The European states facing the reforms of the Union

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This year’s State of the European Union Report (2018) approaches the
subject from a slightly different perspective than earlier editions. It ad-
dresses the subject not only from the viewpoints of European Institutions
based in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg but those of Member
States as well.
Studies on the Union often overlook the fact that the Commission, the
European Parliament, the European Court of Justice and the Council of the
European Union are not the only entities involved in European policy.
Member States and their institutions play an important role as well. Not all
of the policies they implement are strictly national in scope. Member States
apply European law (well or poorly, as the case may be); adopt positions
that condition the Union’s actions and focus (conducive in areas such as
security and defence and sometimes obstructionist on other issues such as
the refugee crisis); and make the existence and evolution of the European
project feasible (e.g. economic and budgetary policy).
Policies implemented at the European level and public opinion regard-
ing them suppose an inevitable (and desirable) symbiosis between na-
tional and community interests and European and national law. This is
natural, given the Union’s status as a community based on the rule of law,
human rights, the separation of powers and democracy. No comparable
regional framework exists anywhere else in the world.
The Fundación Alternativas and the have in-
vited authors from Spain, Germany, Portugal and France to contribute to
the 2018 report with an eye to providing a snapshot of the present State
of the Union that takes a variety of angles and cultural perspectives into
account.
The decision to put a focus on national perspectives has not been for-
tuitous. Over the past few years we have seen what can best be classified
Introduction. The resurgence
of nationalism
Diego López Garrido