Change of integration model, i.e. on the failure of a neofunctional concept of a crisis

Abstract

In the present article, I verify the neo-functional assumptions about the
development of European integration through successive crises. I advance
a thesis that changes in the integration processes carried out during the
crisis of the euro area are exceptional and they head in three directions.
Firstly, it is typical of them to strengthen intergovernmentalism and political
power of the largest Member States. Secondly, during the crisis, formal
and informal competences of the EU technocratic institutions, including the
European Commission and the ECB, increased. Both institutions yielded to
the political pressure from powerful governments. This has led to a reduction
in the autonomy of these institutions and their stronger subordination to the
dominant Member States. Thirdly, the crisis has provided an opportunity to
reinforce the segmentation of Europe into the eurozone and the “second
circle of integration”.