Intergovernmentalism in the European Union: a comparative federalism perspective

The article discusses the two forms of intergovernmentalism institutionalized in the European Union (EU), one adopted in internal market policies and the other in the new policies close to traditional state powers. On the basis of a comparative federalism approach, it investigates the different forms of influence that constituent state governments exercise on the decision-making process of two types of federation. Contrary to federal unions, such as the USA and Switzerland, in the EU the constituent states are represented by their governments. Constituent states are instead represented by their governments in federal states such as Germany (and informally in Canada), but in none of them they play the decision-making role as they do in the EU’s new policies regime. The article thus highlights the legitimacy vacuum in which the intergovernmental institutions operate in the latter policy regime, although this is not the case in the internal market policies regime.