European integration through open-ended mechanisms : European integration through open-ended mechanisms

Abstract

This book examines the building of the European Union’s governance framework from the perspective of the sustainability of the European integration process. It departs from the premise that the evolution of that framework depends on some degree of preference convergence to have occurred or to occur. The book focuses on two fundamental EU institutions that were built as open-ended mechanisms: Economic and Monetary Union and the European Green Deal. In doing so, it also discusses the importance of ‘openness’ to further political integration and the limits of differentiated integration.