Does the European Union consist of a new world power with imperial ambitions? That is what is asked before the decade of crises 2008-2018, but also later on. Was it and is still it an empire at all? This will be analysed and discussed starting with “Real History” (Coming into Existence, structure, expansion, perceptions and reactions, decline and disintegration) accompanied by “Reception History” (successes and failures, imagined receptions, references, forerunners and historical consciousness, the Holy Roman Empire as predecessor?, historiographies, the Roman Empire, state of the art and historical comparisons) and followed by “First Assessments and possible Developments” (Lisbon Strategy and Lisbon Treaty, the open question of the finalité politique, nation-states acting as EU-members in a globalized context, the NATO-, EU-Eastern enlargement and the relationship to Russia) and the question of what holds EU-Europe together (the inevitable categorical integration imperative Germany, German-French partnership as precondition, the integrated legal community, the Single Market, the Euro as anchor, the majority of Community institutions, noncontractual regulations, external crises as stimulators, the “migration crisis” as a forced solution and the social dimension). Pressing tasks for the future and preconditions for further EU-functioning will be mentioned at the end (credibility through adherence to the treaty and strengthening of legitimation, self-responsibility and solidarity and a new Elysée Treaty as a stimulator).
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