Frey, Bruno S. --- "A Europe of variety, not harmonization" [2002] ELECD 17; in Marciano, Alain; Josselin, Jean-Michel (eds), "The Economics of Harmonizing European Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2002)

Book Title: The Economics of Harmonizing European Law

Editor(s): Marciano, Alain; Josselin, Jean-Michel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781840646085

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: A Europe of variety, not harmonization

Author(s): Frey, Bruno S.

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

10. A Europe of variety, not
harmonization
Bruno S. Frey1

The integration of Europe is a fascinating and wonderful idea. One of the
major ideas is to overcome the perennial strife between the European nations
(whose worst outcomes were the two World Wars in the twentieth century).
Moreover, the integration should help to solve the ongoing civil wars of long
duration and bitterness that still plague this continent: in former Yugoslavia,
Ireland, the Basque country and Corsica.
But Europe has not only a history of belligerence. It can be proud of its
achievements in the arts, sciences, and the way of living. The basis of it all is
variety: a Scot is unlike a Sicilian, a Breton unlike a Bavarian, and an
Andalusian unlike a Prussian.
The idea developed here is based on four basic ingredients. The future
Europe has to be:

­ peaceful,
­ democratic,
­ diverse, and
­ productive.

Our proposal of democratic decentralized jurisdictions differs drastically from
the European Union existing today. In particular, (1) it emphasizes the role of
citizens in the political process, and (2) decentralizes the political process to
the functionally most appropriate level. The proposal thus seeks to redress the
two well-known and often lamented shortcomings of the European Union: its
democracy deficit and its decentralization deficit.
Our proposal also differs markedly from the various reform plans currently
discussed to mitigate the two `deficits'. Some seek to strengthen the European
Parliament. But this measure does not necessarily engage the citizens of the
EU more strongly in ...