ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses what constitutes the core of federalism, and contrasts it with the concept of confederation. It presents the development of federal thought and action, in Europe and the USA, ending with an attempt to distillate a European federal model. The book analyzes the policy process within federations, which may roughly be divided into two traditions: the European and the Anglo-Saxon. It deals with economic, monetary and fiscal questions of the European Union (EU). One important aspect of the Constitutional Treaty (CT) is that it represents a common denominator of the heads os state and government in the enlarged EU that is 25 states. The EU needs to be made more effective, as was said already at the outset of the Laeken Process; perhaps because the EU's legitimacy to a high degree depends on its output, its efficiency.
