Casa Robino

The French functionary believed in gradually unifying post-war Europe through discrete projects run by a caste of technocrats, with the end-point left deliberately ambiguous. Europe, he said, “will not be built all at once, or as a single whole: it will be built by concrete achievements which first create de facto solidarity.” His method has gone far. European states have voluntarily pooled a remarkable degree of sovereignty.
But the méthode Monnet has brought two problems. One is that it alienates voters. Elected governments must increasingly answer for policies they do not fully control, while voters have no power to “throw the bums out” in Brussels. The European Parliament, self-aggrandising and mediocre, cannot fill the democratic deficit. The method’s other drawback is its sheer clumsiness. Authority in the EU is dispersed, and many decisions still require consensus among 27 governments (or 17, for the euro zone). The euro was created without the supporting structure of a treasury, tax-raising powers and coherent decision-making.