​The European Union and an International Rule Based Order

Renewing momentum
 
The EU needs a new rallying cry and a new unifying statement of what it stands for. 'Make Europe great again' will not cut it.

​2019 will see elections in May for a new European Parliament. It will be followed by the appointment of a new European Commission and a new President of the European Council.
 
Both the Commission and the European Council have a tradition of trying to act collegially and by consensus. In addition, for much of its history, two centrist political alliances (the European Peoples Party & the European Socialists) have dominated the European Parliament. They have together pushed forward an integrationist agenda.
 
With changeover imminent, EU leaders need consensus, centrism and an integrationist momentum to continue to prevail at the heart of the Union. They have to avoid, at the EU level, contagion from the political polarization infecting so many member states. Polarization takes different forms. What is common is that, in many member states, the traditional centre has been squeezed. Nationalist and Eurosceptic views have been on the rise. The centre is having to be reconstituted in new forms.

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