Το μέλλον της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης: η ανάγκη για μια συνολική προσέγγιση

Abstract

This article attempts to provide an overall analysis an evaluation of the discussion for the future of Europe, as seen by a small member state, Greece, against the background of the imminent enlargement of the European Union (EU) towards the Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries. The central parameters determining the dynamism of the discussion for the future of Europe are examined, with the Declarations of the European Councils of Nice (December 2000) and of Laeken (December 2001) as starting point. In this context, the essential content of the integration process and the political and institutional dimensions of the European Union are also analysed, including the different models for the political organisation of the EU that have been proposed. In the second part of the article Greece’s positions in relation to the models of organisation for the European Union (intergovernmental model, community model, federation of nation states), are discussed. An attempt is also made to interpret Greece’s positive stance towards the evolution of the European Union into a Political Union of a federal nature with the respect of the Community model of integration.