Redefining EU Membership: Differentiation In and Outside the European Union

Redefining EU Membership examines the issue of Membership within the European Union (EU) today by focusing on differentiation in and outside the EU.

The Treaty on European Union unequivocally declares that the contracting parties are the Member States of the EU. However, a closer examination casts some doubt of the unitary status of Member States, or at least suggests that the concept requires nuancing. Whilst diversity, and to some extent differentiation, have been part and parcel of the European integration process since its inception, Redefining EU Membership proposes that, considering several developments, a new reflection on membership within the EU and on differentiation in and outside the EU is required.

The volume's contributions are organized around four aspects of the tensions faced by the concept of a unitary and formal EU membership: first, an examination of key policy areas which have already witnessed various forms of differentiated integration; second, an analysis of 'special statuses' within the EU; third, important examples of non-Member States in which EU law is applied (with and without their participation in the EU's decision-making process); and fourth, the situation of states under accession or secession procedures which obliges them to accept EU norms and policies even prior to/after formal membership. These analyses are complemented by a reflection on the concept of membership in itself.

In a context in which EU enlargement appears likely, the provided analysis reflects on the need to expand and introduce several kinds of membership to the EU in the future.

Diane Fromage, Professor of European Law, University of Salzburg

Diane Fromage is Professor of European Law at the University of Salzburg and Deputy Director of the Salzburg Centre of European Union Studies. She is also an Affiliated Researcher at the Law Department of Sciences Po, Paris. She teaches EU institutional and Internal market law, as well as Economic and Monetary Union and Banking Union law. Prior to joining Salzburg, she was a Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Fellow at Sciences Po, Paris, and an Assistant Professor at Maastricht and Utrecht Universities. She has authored numerous contributions on Economic and Monetary Union, Banking Union, Democracy and Accountability within the EU.