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

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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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in a Convention3 (the decision-taking procedure
of greatest intensity and democratic legitimacy
in the Union)4 to be convened in the context of
the 60th anniversary.
The methodological key to the Parliament’s
proposal can be found in point 1 of the institu-
tional resolution: “The Parliament considers
that the time of crisis management by means of
ad hoc and incremental decisions has passed, as
it only leads to measures that are often too little,
too late; is convinced that it is now time for a
profound reflection on how to address the
shortcomings of the governance of the
European Union by undertaking a comprehen-
sive, in-depth review of the Lisbon Treaty; con-
siders that short and medium term solutions can
be realised by exploiting the existing Treaties to
their full potential in the meantime”.
The Parliament, then, got the ball rolling on
discussing5 the future of Europe, combining the
3 European Parliament resolution of 16 February 2017
on possible evolutions of and adjustments to the current
institutional set-up of the European Union, point 85: The
European Parliament “Is of the opinion that the 60th
anniversary of the Treaty of Rome would be an appropriate
moment to start a reflection on the future of the European
Union and agree on a vision for the current and future
generations of European citizens leading to a Convention
with the purpose of making the European Union ready for
the decades ahead”. Available at:
4For our part and for some time, we have also championed
the need for and timeliness of a European Convention. See:
Fundación Alternativas, Informes sobre el estado de la
Unión europea 2015, available at:
and 2017, available at:
pages 127 and 120, respectively.
5As Antonio Tajani, the current President of the European
Parliament, reminded the Heads of State and Government
during their meeting in October 2017. See: European
Parliament, Outcome of European Council meeting of
19-20 October 2017, in:
debate on the form of the Union with the de-
bate on the content of the Union, two spheres
that European political leaders cannot separate
if they wish to act honestly. What’s more, the
Parliament acted in line with the idea that, given
the essentially democratic nature of the Union’s
political life, the participants in the debate must
be all the political subjects that to a greater or
lesser degree are affected by the decision-taking
process and by the consequences of that pro-
cess: institutions and states as the main players
in participatory democracy and civil society as a
player in participatory democracy. The Parlia-
ment’s initiative was to be expected, given its
more democratic and plural nature, despite hav-
ing a similar correlation of forces to the rest of
the institutions.
The European Commission divided its contri-
bution to the debate into two moments over
the course of 2017.
On the one hand, it published six reflection
papers: the White paper on the future of Eu-
rope, adopted on 1 March 2017 6 and five com-
munications 7 on:
– Developing the social dimension of Europe.8
– Deepening the Economic and Monetary Un-
ion, on the basis of the Five Presidents’ Re-
port of June 2015.9
6European Commission: White paper on the future
of Europe, 2017. Available at:
7 Ibidem, page 26. The stance of the states on each one of
these sectorial issues is addressed throughout this report on
the state of the EU.
8COM(2017)206 of 26 April 2017. Available at:
9COM(2017)291 of 31 May 2017. Available at: