The intergovernmental union emerged from the Maastricht Treaty, and thus institutionalized fully by the Lisbon Treaty, has been tested during the euro crisis. The logic of the intergovernmental union requires voluntary coordination between national governments in the new policy areas of the EU. However, under the impact of the dramatic financial crisis, the intergovernmental union has ended up in practicing hierarchical relations between national governments within the intergovernmental institutions. Consensus has thus been substituted by domination.
