Cato Sluyts
EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
PROF RAUBE & CO
INTRODUCTION (13/11/2023)
Professors
• Professor dr. Giuliana Laschi, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
• Professor dr. Jan Wouters, KU Leuven
• Professor dr. Kolja Raube, KU Leuven
• Dr. Justus Schönlau, KU Leuven
• Olha Skrypal, KU Leuven
5 Blocks + Winterschool
• European integration in a long-term historical-philosophical perspective (block 1)
• European integration in the aftermath of the Second World War (block 2)
• Legal-political foundations of European Integration (block 3)
• Key concepts and theories of European integration (block 4)
• Dynamics of European integration – institutions and policy process (block 5)
• Winter School (2023 edition: Future of the European Union)
Set-up
• 10 ECTS
• 24 lectures (3 lectures per block + Winter school)
o 3 content-lectures per block
• 10 seminars (2 seminars per block)
o 23 hours educational activities during the compulsory Winter School
(compulsory)
o 1 Discussion seminar on the topic of each block
o 1 Feedback seminar on how to feed the block-contents into the student
posters
• 23 hours educational activities during the compulsory Winter School (compulsory)
Assessment
• 50% of the final grade is acquired through continuous assessment:
This includes two activities – the poster (25%) and active participation in the Winter
School (25%)
• The other 50% is dedicated to the final written exam during the examination period.
• Thus, the final grade consists of: 25% posters and 25% active participation in the
Winter School, plus 50% final written exam (60% multiple choice questions + 40%
essay)
• In order to pass the course, students need to pass all assessment activities – poster,
take part in the Winter School and the written final examination.
1
,Cato Sluyts
The Poster:
• Each student develops their own poster dedicated to an “Episode of European
Integration”. Students select one “episode” they deem important for European
integration and work on it throughout the course.
• They can choose from a list of pre-selected ‘episodes’, but also choose upon
consultation with their professors for an alternative episode-topic. The poster covers
dimensions/perspectives, which are closely related to the blocks of the course
(historical, legal, conceptual and governance-related.
• Students exhibit their posters during the Winter School – either in person or online.
• Students who participate in the Winter School physically have to bring their posters
with them to Belgium and be ready to present them on 17 December
The Winterschool (compulsory)
• The 2023 edition of the BAES Winter School focuses on the Conference on the Future
of Europe and its final report.
• It brings together BAES students, professors and professionals from the field and
engages the participants in an intensive learning and problem-solving environment
to think about the future of the European Union.
• The Winter School starts with an opening session + poster conference (17 December)
and then introduces students to different ways of thinking about the future
European integration through on-campus/hybrid lectures (18 December).
• During the two following days (19-20 December), students focus on the future of
Europe in specialized policy-fields; their recommendations will be presented during
the closing session of the final day of the Winter School (21 December)
2
,Cato Sluyts
LECTURE 1: EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN A LONG-TERM HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1
(13/11/2023)
Link with similar concepts: European unity, European cooperation.
• When was the concept of Europe born?
• How much does it change over the centuries?
• Geographical Europe and political Europe.
• An uncertain defnition from a political point of view.
Immanuel Kant (1724- 1804)
• First great federalist philosopher
• To Perpetual Peace - 1795: link between world federaton, perpetual peace and
human emancipaton
The formation of the state
• Historical progress occurs with the organisation of society according to a rational law,
which transforms relations of force into legal relations
• The frst stage is the formation of the state: it monopolises force and subjects
individual arbitrariness to law
Perpetual Peace (I)
• Peace is "the end of all hostlites" and not the suspension of hostlites between two
wars
• Peace cannot be achieved on the basis of the balance of powers
• It must be built by the creation of a legal order that guarantees it: extension of law
to all social relations, including international relations
Perpetual Peace (II)
• World federation ensures perpetual peace
• Founded on a power capable of regulating relations between states and preventing
the use of violence to resolve conficts
• The choice to join the federation must be free. The states that make up the
federation must be republican (in which there is a law desired by all and which
guarantees the coexistence of free and equal men)
Perpetual Peace (III)
• The experience of the negativity of wars will be the first thing to lead European states
to establish federal bonds, which would later extend worldwide.
• However, he envisages a confederation of states, being convinced that the republican
state can only develop in small states.
Basic principle of federalist theory
• International anarchy prevents the consolidation of freedom, democracy and justice
within states
• Peace, achieved through an international legal order, is the condition for defeating
warlike and authoritarian tendencies within the state
3
, Cato Sluyts
Proudhon’s Federalism
• Federalism understood as confederation (does not know the USA or the difference
between federation and confederation) in which the central authority is subordinate
to the member states.
• The municipality is the main centre of organisation of collective life.
• He rejects the presence of a state because he considers it an absurd institution,
aimed simply at the exploitation of others’ labour by a few men.
Mazzini's thought
• Struggle for Italian political unity, but with the idea of the unifcation of Europe and
the entire human race
• Strong idealisation of the concept of the nation: vehicle for achieving freedom and
universal brotherhood
• It remained a vague idea, not institutionally defined
• The unitary nation-state remained the highest form of organisation of society
• Aspiration for a Europe in which violence between nations would be eliminated and
peace and solidarity between peoples would develop
La Giovine Europa (The young Europe) (1834)
• Set against the Old Europe of the holy alliance of monarchs
• Reconstruction of Europe on a national basis as the beginning of a new historical
phase of human solidarity and brotherhood between peoples
• Italy as a spiritual guide to achieving European unity
Cattaneo’s Federalism (I)
• Carlo Cattaneo (1801-1869)
• Forerunner of 20th century
• European federalism
• Denounces the illiberal and authoritarian limits of the unitary nation state
• Federal solution applicable both for Italian unifcation and for peace in Europe
• "We shall have real peace when we have the United States of Europe".
Cattaneo’s Federalism (II)
• Federal institutions:
o Subordination of a plurality of independent states to a superior but limited
centre of power
o Legal regulation from regions to mankind
o Distinction between regional peoples and nations
o Real freedom only by limiting political power: within states with regional
decentralisation and in international relations by subordinating states to a
supranational government
4
EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
PROF RAUBE & CO
INTRODUCTION (13/11/2023)
Professors
• Professor dr. Giuliana Laschi, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
• Professor dr. Jan Wouters, KU Leuven
• Professor dr. Kolja Raube, KU Leuven
• Dr. Justus Schönlau, KU Leuven
• Olha Skrypal, KU Leuven
5 Blocks + Winterschool
• European integration in a long-term historical-philosophical perspective (block 1)
• European integration in the aftermath of the Second World War (block 2)
• Legal-political foundations of European Integration (block 3)
• Key concepts and theories of European integration (block 4)
• Dynamics of European integration – institutions and policy process (block 5)
• Winter School (2023 edition: Future of the European Union)
Set-up
• 10 ECTS
• 24 lectures (3 lectures per block + Winter school)
o 3 content-lectures per block
• 10 seminars (2 seminars per block)
o 23 hours educational activities during the compulsory Winter School
(compulsory)
o 1 Discussion seminar on the topic of each block
o 1 Feedback seminar on how to feed the block-contents into the student
posters
• 23 hours educational activities during the compulsory Winter School (compulsory)
Assessment
• 50% of the final grade is acquired through continuous assessment:
This includes two activities – the poster (25%) and active participation in the Winter
School (25%)
• The other 50% is dedicated to the final written exam during the examination period.
• Thus, the final grade consists of: 25% posters and 25% active participation in the
Winter School, plus 50% final written exam (60% multiple choice questions + 40%
essay)
• In order to pass the course, students need to pass all assessment activities – poster,
take part in the Winter School and the written final examination.
1
,Cato Sluyts
The Poster:
• Each student develops their own poster dedicated to an “Episode of European
Integration”. Students select one “episode” they deem important for European
integration and work on it throughout the course.
• They can choose from a list of pre-selected ‘episodes’, but also choose upon
consultation with their professors for an alternative episode-topic. The poster covers
dimensions/perspectives, which are closely related to the blocks of the course
(historical, legal, conceptual and governance-related.
• Students exhibit their posters during the Winter School – either in person or online.
• Students who participate in the Winter School physically have to bring their posters
with them to Belgium and be ready to present them on 17 December
The Winterschool (compulsory)
• The 2023 edition of the BAES Winter School focuses on the Conference on the Future
of Europe and its final report.
• It brings together BAES students, professors and professionals from the field and
engages the participants in an intensive learning and problem-solving environment
to think about the future of the European Union.
• The Winter School starts with an opening session + poster conference (17 December)
and then introduces students to different ways of thinking about the future
European integration through on-campus/hybrid lectures (18 December).
• During the two following days (19-20 December), students focus on the future of
Europe in specialized policy-fields; their recommendations will be presented during
the closing session of the final day of the Winter School (21 December)
2
,Cato Sluyts
LECTURE 1: EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN A LONG-TERM HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1
(13/11/2023)
Link with similar concepts: European unity, European cooperation.
• When was the concept of Europe born?
• How much does it change over the centuries?
• Geographical Europe and political Europe.
• An uncertain defnition from a political point of view.
Immanuel Kant (1724- 1804)
• First great federalist philosopher
• To Perpetual Peace - 1795: link between world federaton, perpetual peace and
human emancipaton
The formation of the state
• Historical progress occurs with the organisation of society according to a rational law,
which transforms relations of force into legal relations
• The frst stage is the formation of the state: it monopolises force and subjects
individual arbitrariness to law
Perpetual Peace (I)
• Peace is "the end of all hostlites" and not the suspension of hostlites between two
wars
• Peace cannot be achieved on the basis of the balance of powers
• It must be built by the creation of a legal order that guarantees it: extension of law
to all social relations, including international relations
Perpetual Peace (II)
• World federation ensures perpetual peace
• Founded on a power capable of regulating relations between states and preventing
the use of violence to resolve conficts
• The choice to join the federation must be free. The states that make up the
federation must be republican (in which there is a law desired by all and which
guarantees the coexistence of free and equal men)
Perpetual Peace (III)
• The experience of the negativity of wars will be the first thing to lead European states
to establish federal bonds, which would later extend worldwide.
• However, he envisages a confederation of states, being convinced that the republican
state can only develop in small states.
Basic principle of federalist theory
• International anarchy prevents the consolidation of freedom, democracy and justice
within states
• Peace, achieved through an international legal order, is the condition for defeating
warlike and authoritarian tendencies within the state
3
, Cato Sluyts
Proudhon’s Federalism
• Federalism understood as confederation (does not know the USA or the difference
between federation and confederation) in which the central authority is subordinate
to the member states.
• The municipality is the main centre of organisation of collective life.
• He rejects the presence of a state because he considers it an absurd institution,
aimed simply at the exploitation of others’ labour by a few men.
Mazzini's thought
• Struggle for Italian political unity, but with the idea of the unifcation of Europe and
the entire human race
• Strong idealisation of the concept of the nation: vehicle for achieving freedom and
universal brotherhood
• It remained a vague idea, not institutionally defined
• The unitary nation-state remained the highest form of organisation of society
• Aspiration for a Europe in which violence between nations would be eliminated and
peace and solidarity between peoples would develop
La Giovine Europa (The young Europe) (1834)
• Set against the Old Europe of the holy alliance of monarchs
• Reconstruction of Europe on a national basis as the beginning of a new historical
phase of human solidarity and brotherhood between peoples
• Italy as a spiritual guide to achieving European unity
Cattaneo’s Federalism (I)
• Carlo Cattaneo (1801-1869)
• Forerunner of 20th century
• European federalism
• Denounces the illiberal and authoritarian limits of the unitary nation state
• Federal solution applicable both for Italian unifcation and for peace in Europe
• "We shall have real peace when we have the United States of Europe".
Cattaneo’s Federalism (II)
• Federal institutions:
o Subordination of a plurality of independent states to a superior but limited
centre of power
o Legal regulation from regions to mankind
o Distinction between regional peoples and nations
o Real freedom only by limiting political power: within states with regional
decentralisation and in international relations by subordinating states to a
supranational government
4
