Chapter 19 - ‘Handle with care: The potentials and limits of differentiated integration’

Julian Rappold recognises in ‘Handle with care: The potentials and limits of differentiated integration’ that differentiation has been and will continue to be an integral feature of European integration – although it is still unclear in which areas, how and to what extent it will be applied in practice in the years to come. Given the many internal and external challenges the EU is facing and the increased heterogeneity among member states, the number of flexible forms of cooperation will likely further increase in the next politicoinstitutional cycle (2019-2024) as it offers a pragmatic and functional way to maintain the Union’s capacity to act. However, differentiated integration is not a panacea to cure the EU’s internal divisions. It should not lead to a closed ‘core Europe’ and rather remain a second-best option in order not to jeopardise the Union’s political, legal and institutional cohesion, he argues.