ABSTRACT
The global economic crisis and the ensuing euro area crisis have highlighted the salience and the redistributive consequences of monetary integration. As a consequence, citizens have become increasingly aware of the interdependence of European economies and the importance of European Union (EU) institutions in determining the future of individual national economies. Institutional responses to the crisis have also brought about reforms to deepen integration in the EU and resulted in calls for greater democracy and enhanced legitimacy. The euro area crisis thus represents the clearest example to date of Europe-wide politicization of the integration issue, understood in Schmitter’s sense as a ‘widening of the audience or clientele interested and active in integration’ (1969: 166). This can thus be seen as a critical step in the ongoing process leading away from the ‘permissive consensus’ of the early period of integration, where insulated leaders could make decisions without public consultation, towards a ‘constraining dissensus’ where public opinion is both more critical and more decisive (Hooghe and Marks 2009). With a proliferation of referendums on EU matters, politicization of EU issues in national elections and increased powers of the European Parliament, future reforms to deepen European integration hinge more than ever upon public support.
