Sonntag, A. (2014) “A missed opportunity“, EU-Asia Institute at ESSCA School of Management, 01 September.
20 years ago, on the 1st of September 1994, two German MPs from the CDU led by Helmut Kohl published a position paper, which bore the innocuous title ‘Reflexions on European Politics’ and which became quickly named the ‘Schäuble-Lamers Paper’ after its authors. The propositions and recommendations formulated in this rather dense document of a dozen pages – still available in German on the CDU’s parliamentary group’s website – had the potential to change the course of European integration.
They could have given a concrete meaning to the principle of subsidiarity vaguely introduced by the Maastricht Treaty but never followed by a genuine implementation plan. They could have led to the deepening of the Union which was expected to precede the great enlargement to the East, but which never really happened for lack of consensus on the finality of integration. They could have facilitated the writing and ratification of a constitution and made the introduction of Eurobonds a logical step of a more restricted but more solidary monetary union. They could have produced a much more profoundly European Germany instead of the increasingly German Europe that we have today.
Relevant posts:
- Davies, H. (2014) “Europe’s Fitful Financial Integration“, Project Syndicate, 25 August.
- Petersen, Τ. (2014) “20 years of the European single market: growth effects of EU integration“, Policy Brief 2014/02, Future Social Market Economy, Bertelsmann Stiftung, 29 July.
- Gros, D. (2013) “Principles of a Two-Tier European Deposit (Re-)Insurance System“, CEPS Policy Brief, N. 287.