After Nice: Towards a Federal Government? Philippe Moreau Defarges, Politique étrangère, 2/2001 - Year 66.

Abstract:

The question of a European federal Government is henceforth on the agenda of the European Union. Until now, Europe, originally of the European Communities and now of the European Union, has been governed by a very complex system. A supranational authority, the European Commission, is combined with intergovernmental bodies, the Council of Ministers and the European Council. The structural weakening of the Commission as much as the equivocation of the European Council call for a reappraisal of the European governmental system. European Construction was intended to be “original”, unfettered by the traditional categories of law (executive, legislative and judicial powers). At the present time, the deepening of integration and the prospects of enlargement bring the European Union back toward these categories. In the years to come, a fundamental debate on what a European federal Government can and must be is sure to take place.

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