ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the literature on multispeed integration in the European Union (EU) and other organizations. It also investigates the institutions and member state preferences that lead the camps to accept and resist multispeed proposals, paying particular attention to how a multispeed approach affects bargaining after states have opted out. The Social Charter and the New Fiscal Pact of 2011 are examples of multispeed approaches initiated by a laggard. The various literatures on EU integration, international organizations, and federalism with respect to their implications for multispeed integration in the EU. Kolliker argues that multispeed integration is least in policy areas that handle public goods where common pool resource problems are likely to arise. The decision to create a multispeed Europe is, in essence, a decision to create more flexibility in EU decision-making. EU decision-making involves a supranational agenda setter, as the Commission, proposing policy changes to the member states, oftentimes in conjunction with the European Parliament (EP).
