Łazowski, Adam; Blockmans, Steven --- "Conclusions" [2016] ELECD 1075; in Lazowski, Adam; Blockmans, Steven (eds), "Research Handbook on EU Institutional Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 475

Book Title: Research Handbook on EU Institutional Law

Editor(s): Lazowski, Adam; Blockmans, Steven

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781782544739

Section Title: Conclusions

Author(s): Łazowski, Adam; Blockmans, Steven

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

Conclusions
Adam Lazowski and Steven Blockmans



1. THE EU AT THE SAME CROSSROADS?
In a kind of millennium declaration of its own, the European Council took stock of the
situation that the European Union was in and prescribed a panacea: a deep reflection on
the state of the Union.1 This, as is well known, led to the European Convention and a
failed attempt at adoption of a constitutional act for the EU.2 Irrespective of this failure,
since the 2001 Laeken Declaration the mandate for EU reform was clear: the EU
should be more democratic, transparent and closer to its citizens. Its rulebook should
also be changed to render the EU a more effective actor in the international arena.
Eventually this has materialised with the Treaty of Lisbon.3 Reading the Laeken
Declaration 15 years and a number of interlocking crises later, one would be forgiven a
giant déjà vu. Is the European Union indeed going back to the future called for by the
European Council in 2001? Did the Lisbon Treaty not effectively seal a decade of EU
institutional reform since the Laeken Declaration? Is the EU not fit for purpose? Should
solutions be found in a sober reflection as to how the administrative management of the
EU can be improved? Is more political solidarity between the Member States required?
Is Treaty revision the answer? Should the operating principles of the legal order be
overhauled? Or should some or all of the above be mobilised? These and ...