Sovereignty models in the European integration visions. Comparative perspective

Today's debate on the future of European integration takes place at different levels and in many arenas in the EU. The main axis of dispute over the shape of EU and its future lies between views calling for deeper integration of the EU and those calling for the protection of national competences. Exemplified by the call of the French President Emmanuel Macron, the notion of “European sovereignty” contradicts with sovereign claims centred on the preservation of national sovereignty. While these two main groups of views differ significantly in their visions of desired institutional structure of the EU and the content of EU policies, both are referring to sovereignty as the main concept underlying the nature of the European polity and its relation to the nation-state. This research focuses on the discursive (ab)uses of the notion of sovereignty by political parties and how it translates in their visions of European integration. It thus presents a comparative analysis of the discursive articulations of sovereignty in the context of debates related to the future of Europe in three EU member states: Germany, France and Poland. Using debates form national parliaments as the empirical material, we aim to capture how the political parties articulate sovereignty – a key notion for forces motivated by both nationalism and Europeanism. Our aim is to shed light on parties’ understanding and preferences regarding the future of Europe. Based on sovereignty models embedded in constitutional-democratic visions of the EU, we demonstrate how sovereignty is a key to the envisioned future relations between member states and supranational institutions. Eventually, sovereignty prevails as a significant ideological and party dividing line on European integration.