ABSTRACT
In recent years, the failure of the constitutional process, the difficult ratification and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty as well as the several crises affecting Europe have revitalized the debate on the nature of the European polity and the balance of powers in Brussels. Reform of institutions and the creation of new political functions at the top of the European Union (EU) have given a fresh momentum to a question which has been pending for several decades: does Europe have a single phone number, or does it still have a phone-book that has to be checked in order to find out who is in charge and accountable? Hopes were expressed about giving faces to the anonymous multilevel governance in order to increase the visibility and legitimacy of European institutions. This search for accountability was underlined by a highly symbolic gesture in September 2011. Herman Van Rompuy, the first president of the European Council, met Henry Kissinger, the American diplomat who is supposed to have coined the question: ‘What is the phone number of Europe?’ Van Rompuy made the gesture of giving him his business card – indicating that Europe could now be reached at any time. After the big expectations and the disenchantments raised by the constitutional episode, the designation of the low-profile holders of the positions of president of the European Council and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy sent a first warning signal. The management of the economic and financial crisis has shown both a (relatively) smooth functioning of the EU’s mechanisms regarding the difficulty of the challenges to be met, and the hegemony of the rulers of the major member states. The institutional equilibrium for the years to come is still being defined. What is happening, and what will happen, can be better understood by looking at historical precedents of major political changes at the European level and at the broader picture of long-running political, social and cultural processes at work in European societies.
