Introduction
After World War II, with the founding of the Council of Europe and the institutions that would later become the European Union, Europe embarked on an uncertain path toward what some intended to be a form of pan-European cooperation in economic and human rights matters and what others desired to be the first step toward a "United States of Europe." The result has been a sweeping transfer of power from national capitols to EU institutions and significant EU regulatory and legal oversight on issues once clearly a matter of exclusive national concern. Along the way, treaty amendments and the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union and European Court of Human Rights have given rise to robust objections from "euro-skeptics," who are insisting that their national governments should "claw back" powers from the entire range of European institutions. This section examines recent developments in this debate, particularly on the subjects of human rights, law and justice, finance and trade, and the democratic impacts of the expanding authority of the European institutions.
Finance & Trade
The asserted need for regulation of the “single market” of the European Union has provided a strong foothold for the centralization of power in the institutions of this supranational body, along with the ever-expanding body of rules and directives that seek to “harmonize” the economic and financial regulation of European Union member states. This focus area examines developments in the EU’s regulation of finance and trade within the bloc, and the backlash by some national governments and other observers to the increasing amount of economic and budgetary decision-making that has been transferred from national capitals to Brussels and Strasbourg.
