Bulletin n. 3/2011
February 2012
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Sidjanski Dusan
    Le traité de Lisbonne sur la voie fédéraliste ?
    in Europe en formation (L') , n. 362, 2011/4 ,  2011 ,  5-29
    The fact that the running-in period of the Treaty of Lisbon coincided with the shock of the financial crisis has exacerbated the dilemma of choosing between the federal and intergovernmental paths, with which the European Union and the euro area are currently confronted. Will the Treaty of Lisbon be able to honour its innovative commitments—the President of the European Council and the High Representative—and maintain the institutional balance between the community and intergovernmental methods? All the more so since, while searching for a solution to the crisis, the role played by Germany and France in collaboration with the President of the European Council has been favoured at the expense of that of the Commission. Since the onset of the Greek crisis and its spreading to Portugal and Ireland, and the risk of contagion in Italy and Spain, the measures adopted have proven to be inadequate. Moreover, the emphasis has been placed on austerity rather than growth. Reluctant acts of procrastination have only aggravated the economic crisis. The Commission’s efforts to regulate the financial markets, as crucial as they may be, have not been sufficient to reflate the economy in the euro area. The European Financial Stability Facility has enabled the gaps to be filled in, subject to austerity policies, without allowing the risk of recession to be circumvented. Consequently, there are three basic needs: a return to the community method which is less dependent regarding national constraints ; fiscal union and the issue of eurobonds in the euro area, in other words a European New Deal ; a revision of decision making in times of crisis, or even the establishment of an ad hoc mechanism capable of taking emergency measures. In short, a return to the path of European federalism.
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