PRILOG RAZUMEVANJU KRIZE EVROPSKE NADNACIONALNE POLITIČKE INTEGRACIJE
ON UNDERSTANDING THE CRISIS OF EUROPEAN SUPERNATIONAL POLITICAL INTEGRATION

Summary/Abstract: It has been shown in this paper that deeper economic and political integration of the EU does not have to be a good in itself because the institutions of a super state most often do not function as a welfare state in a single country the set-up of which is aimed at solving the problem of negative externalities on the basis of a unique and coherent fiscal and social policy on a domestic level. The motivation for a research of this type has been initiated by the idea of „hidden federalism”. This expression is used in Bojan Kovačević’s book published under the same title with an aim to explain the fundamental problem in functioning of EU institutions which endangers the very existence of this super national political community. By leaving its contents unchecked by the wide European electorate, and by leaving simultaneously the question of ultimate political authority quite unresolved, the „founding fathers” of the EU let the final political goal of the EU remain under the veil of non-transparent political agreement. Their hope was that the economic integration of the European Community lead by technocrats would amount eventually to its harmonious political integration on liberaldemocratic grounds. This practice has been continued by later political elite of the EU except that non-elective policy-making group were also in charge for creating central European institutions that shaped its political content in a centralistic federal manner. Since these latter institutions and policies remained unchecked by a wider public, the question of the legitimacy of the EU institutions remains constantly unresolved leaving the EU in permanent crisis.

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