IN THE MAELSTROM OF CRISES: THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE ‘ZEITENWENDE’

Abstract

This essay aims to promote discussion on fundamental reforms of the European Union (EU). Its thesis is that the global turning point triggered by multiple crises affects the entirety of the EU architecture and that reforms can therefore not be limited to piecemeal reforms in individual areas. Methodologically, the essay takes an ideology-critical approach with what is commonly referred to as “neoliberalism” at its centre. As a result, the essay draws a Union that gains its own sovereignty through democratic reforms in decisionmaking.