Executive Summary

The report begins with its usual review of the economic conditions and outlook in Europe and the world. Both are benign at present, but a decade of economic and migration crises and Britain’s decision to exit pose a strong challenge to the previous path of ever closer union and bold enlargement in Europe. The other three chapters of this year’s EEAG report focus on the symptoms and possible cures of the current integration malaise in Europe. One chapter highlights the role of trust in allowing not only national and supranational organisations, but all human societies to function, and analyses the sources of the current lack of trust in international dialogue. The next chapter reviews the role of admission criteria and governance rules in the operation of clubs that supply services to their members within states, and of the club-like groups of states that supply various public policies within Europe. The final chapter considers economic convergences across EU countries and discusses which public policies are indeed suitably organised at the EU level, and whether and how those policies may reduce, or be hindered by, the member countries’ heterogeneity.