The EU's ‘Ever Closer Union’: Ideals and Contradictions of a Civilian Empire

ABSTRACT Most explanations of the European Union (EU) have dealt with it as a kind of (con)federation, a multi‐level construction, a peculiar blend of supranational and intergovernmental features, or a neo‐functional set‐up. Some regard the EU as an empire of sorts, but either this perspective is drowned out by approaches privileging a ‘normative power’ reading, or it is applied solely, respectively mainly, to the behaviour of the EU towards its ‘near abroad’. This focus on externaIities is both necessary and important, but it does not capture the full picture. This article argues that the EU generically is best understood as a neo‐imperial construct, also in its internal dealings, its requirements on member states to respect its norms and values and accept the limitations of national sovereignty, which EU membership implies. This ‘normative regime’ invariably leads to disagreements and open conflicts between centre and periphery. In one case, that of the UK, these conflicts have led to the British withdrawal from the EU. In others—here represented by Central Europe—to ongoing and bitter recriminations over the rule of law and the very nature of the EU as a collaborative venture. At the centre of all this we find Germany, as the clearest beneficiary of the civilian European empire. This empire, however, is vulnerable. Not just is it internally exposed to the pressure of member states and movements that prefer a union which makes fewer inroads into national sovereignty; it is simultaneously challenged by a global context which calls for the EU to take on a more independent, less subdued and more militant role in world politics. Hence, the EU—faced with external threats of different orders (the USA, Russia, China)—is currently trying to effect a transition from a civilian empire based on peaceful, democratic ideals to a more traditional, old‐school empire based on hard power. Whether it has the proper instruments to do this, if the centre is strong enough to hold, only time can tell. What is certain is that these ambitions have added new contradictions and dilemmas to the agenda of a civilian empire with visible growing pains, in which the voices of dissatisfaction and open resistance are on the rise.