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The European Union is fracturing under the strain of repeated attempts to centralise power. This damning report reveals how unelected supranational institutions systematically push continuous integration and centralisation, circumventing treaty limitations, eroding public legitimacy, and moving beyond democracy.
This is the reality of competence creep: the calculated process by which the European Court of Justice (CJEU) and the European Commission seize power—legislating in areas where competence was never conferred, bypassing national parliaments, and imposing policies that are legally and politically untenable. The CJEU, displaying a long track record of centralisation bias, has neutralized fundamental limiting principles like conferral, subsidiarity, and proportionality.
From the draconian austerity measures imposed during the Greek Debt Crisis to weaponizing financial conditionality to enforce "values", this insidious expansion places technical functionality above political legitimacy.
The consequence? A decline in EU acceptance and functionality. The path is clear: without a profound overhaul to fundamentally curtail the supranational institutions' reach, the only alternatives are further national ‘exits’ or an overall unravelling of the EU.
About the author
Dr. Philipp Siegert studied European history and political science/ International Relations in Germany, Romania, Hungary and France. He started his career as a postdoctoral researcher and assistant teacher at Sorbonne Nouvelle University, later headed the Hanns Seidel Foundation’s office in France and then joined MCC Brussels in late 2023 as its deputy research director.
