The Future of the European Union

The European Union, a political system sui genesis that has guaranteed peace and fostered mutual understanding as well as economic and social development on the European continent during its existence, appears to be immersed in a crisis without precedent. This is especially true because the current crisis is composed of various challenges mutually influencing each other such as recurring economic crises, trends of large economies towards protectionism, an alleged resurgence of nationalist ideas, populist currents within member states, anti-democratic and autocratic tendencies in both European and non-European states, slow political decision-making processes in the face of accelerating climate change, challenges of demographic change and last but not least fundamental societal changes that accompany digitalization. In the light of this, change is inevitable but the future path on which the project might embark is unclear. Has political and economic Europe, in the shape of the European Union, failed or is the future of an economically stable and peaceful Europe more integration within its Member States while taking regional particularities into account? The given work identifies possible future scenarios for the European Union and analyzes them regarding their appropriateness to overcome the current crisis.