MAIN IDEAS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Abstract

It may seem out of time today to talk about the guiding principles of European integration - a few days before a trial in Karlsruhe, in which the limits are once again being exceeded which, according to the Federal Constitutional Court, the Basic Law sets for European activities to save the Union in its most crisis. And yet: perhaps it makes sense to return to some of the principles that Germany signed when it ratified the integration treaties together with its partners. It is in line with the Europe-friendliness of the Basic Law to include them in the interpretation of the national constitution. If you want to talk about the guiding principles of European integration in this sense, you have to make a selection. I would like to concentrate on those that are named in the European treaties, i.e., to which the EU states have jointly committed themselves. Seen in this way, the relevant Treaty on European Union (TEU) abounds in its preamble and in Articles 1-3 with noble ideas, values, goals, and principles to which the EU and its members feel committed. Their importance lies less in a strictly legal obligation than in a kind of general appeal to politicians as to the direction in which the European unification process should develop. I would like to single out four topics from this large bouquet with a view to the current crisis of the Union, which are of particular importance for the current course determination: - The objective of integration in the direction of 'an ever-closer union of the people of Europe' (preamble, Art. 1 para. 2 TEU, preamble TFEU) - The character of the European Union as a 'legal community' - The promotion of 'solidarity between the people and the member states' (preamble, Art. 2 and Art. 3 para. 2, UA 4 TEU - The principle of subsidiarity (Article 5 TEU). One can see at first glance that these guiding principles laid down in the treaties are not unquestionably put into practice in daily practice but are the subject of political disputes.