Erik Jones – Europe’s Political Union

Europe's heads of state and government finally recognize that there is a problem with the design of
their Union. The problem is that they misunderstand what the problem is all about. The challenge is
not to add more political union to strengthen and legitimate the monetary union and internal
market. Rather it is to understand what political union entails. At the moment, Europe is about rules
and their enforcement. But more often than not, politics is about choice. Alas none of the proposals
for strengthening Europe's political union make space for greater European level discretion. There
are good reasons why that is so. Democracy is stronger at the national level than it is across Europe
as a whole. Nevertheless, it is important to consider how more discretion could be introduced into
the European system. Otherwise even if we escape the current crisis, we will be no better equipped
to handle the next one.