The EU: Breaking the chains of weariness

The post-1945 system has today been overcome and a new world order is about to emerge. This new, quite explosive, background does not signal the end of the EU, but provides evidence that its core features must be redesigned to receive broad popular support; a long-term vision coping with the challenges of the twentyfirst century is now urgently needed. Furthermore, EU enlargement must take a new profile. First, the over-emphasised trade-off between widening and deepening must be deconstructed. Second, enlargement needs to be a planned political goal, not a confused mixture of technical criteria which get ever harder to meet. Third, the ‘regatta principle’, counterproductive and lacking results, should be replaced by an innovative and redesigned ‘caravan approach’. Fourth, a conditionality package should be prioritised and, as for previous candidates, proactive handling of exemptive differentiation and transitional arrangements introduced. Last but not least, the EU must accept that open questions will be resolved only within the framework of the EU, and will thus require an ‘integration follow-up’ mechanism targeted at such issues.