Der integrationistische Fehlschluss/The interactionist fallacy

This contribution is a response to those who argue that more EU competencies and a stronger European Parliament would free Europe from the technocratic trap and establish a European-wide democracy. The respective position relies on an integrationist fallacy. The necessity for technocratic governance is built into the monetary union and would therefore not vanish if the EP became stronger. Also, more politicization of European conflicts may drive the EU further apart from the pre-constitutional conditions of transnational democratic processes. The integrationist fallacy relies on three shortcomings: the lack of analytical differentiation between integration dimensions, the absence of a political economic perspective, and too little attention on conflicts between countries as opposed to those between the left and the right.