Introduction

As the title suggests, this book is about the political economy of European integration. We chose that subject for two reasons. The first is empirical. The European Union (EU) has changed a lot over the past decade. It will change even more over the decade to come. The enlargement of membership, the reform of institutions, and the expansion (‘deepening’) of policy competency all promise to make the Europe of the future very different from the Europe of the past. Anything that changes so much, so quickly, is interesting – certainly to us and hopefully to our readers as well.