How did the European Union (EU) respond to the crises of the 2010s and 2020s? These crises emerged in policy areas traditionally managed by national governments, placing the European Council at the forefront of crisis management. While national governments were able to take decisions, their responses were often contradictory, unaccountable, and hindered by internal divisions. To navigate a policy-making process dominated by national and sub-regional claims, Sergio Fabbrini argues that intergovernmental governance has had to transform the EU into an international organisation.

Fabbrini contends that differentiated integration would further distance the EU from the project of an ‘ever closer union.’ Based on a comparative federalism approach, he proposes an alternative paradigm— a multi-tier Europe with a federalist core—to balance national sovereignties and supranational authority.