ABSTRACT
A number of themes reoccur in the political and public debate about Europe’s future. In critical periods, these are unearthed from academic ivory towers or from dusty diplomatic archives. Debates often seem to reinvent the wheel rather than using an old concept adapted to today’s challenges. Exploiting the rich patrimony of integration debates and studies, or what might be called, in analogy to the acquis communautaire, the acquis académique, is surely the duty of all academics. Such sunken reflections provide valuable opportunities to enrich the conceptual and strategic debate, particularly in political circles, where political actors under short-term pressures tend to neglect the insights gained from past experience.
