Conclusion: Obstinate or Obsolete?

Abstract

In a much-discussed article written half a century ago, Stanley Hoffman (1966) argued that despite functionalist expectations to the contrary, states were not withering away and should be expected to retain a major role in European affairs. Much the same could be said today about the Community method. Over 60 years after the Treaty of Paris, the first to define the basic elements in the limited but strategically important coal and steel sectors, it still plays a central role in contemporary EU policy-making, notwithstanding repeated declarations about its alleged obsolescence, made by political leaders and students of European integration alike. Yet its continuing relevance does not mean it has not evolved. When trying to analyse the overall evolution of the European Union, one must therefore avoid simplistic judgments: as in any political system, one can see different processes at work here.