ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) policy process is at least 'mature' in the sense that it has produced a mass of public policy and continues to generate more policy proposals and outputs. The institutional rules have been uncertain and the balance between EU institutions has been in a state of flux, but the policy game is carried on. EU policy-making is institutionalized 'repeat social interaction'. Busch argues the situations of repeat social interactions pose special problems for game theorists and rational choice analysts. The fact that EU policy-making is a collective exercise involving large numbers of participants, often in intermittent and unpredictable relationships, is to re-enforce the process by which national sovereignty is being eroded, as well as the capacity for consistent EU-level political leadership. According to Ernst Haas Europeanization seemed unstoppable, once the process starts, it has no end, as technical pressures will lead to adjacent sectors also being integrated.
