The Netherlands has a reputation for being critical of the European Union. An unfair assumption, says Schout. “The Netherlands is very pro-Europe, it just favours European collaboration over European integration. The success of D66 and Volt in the recent parliamentary elections does not mean the Netherlands will suddenly pursue a policy of integration. What we want is a Europe that works.”
This is not the case at the moment. “Europe is experiencing a crisis of identity,” says Schout. There are still major questions about the sustainability of the euro and many Member States are struggling with structurally high unemployment rates and substantial national debt. “When the pandemic broke out, only seven of the nineteen Member States had their national debt under control.”
Different perspective
Cut-backs are possible in most Member States, but reform is proving to be more difficult. “This calls for structured plans, which the EU has to check and approve. But how do you assess the combination of large-scale project investments and reform proposals when themes like monitoring, enforcement, project assessment and the de-politicisation of tasks come in to play? These national administrations have to work together in a European context. But monitoring the economic policies in Member States is not working properly and the EU is struggling with this. Central control and monitoring would undermine ownership.”
According to Schout, science is seemingly unconcerned with European collaboration and its associated themes. “European studies are often referred to as European integration studies, but a focus on collaboration, which is what the Netherlands wants, calls for a different perspective. Integration is concerned with decision-making processes, institutional powers, European elections and whether a European tax should be introduced. Collaboration is concerned with the EU in an organisational context and puts European objectives in a national context.”
Sound knowledge
Students who study Europe need to understand the formal structures as well as the diagnostics of multi-layer governance, says Schout. “These students may go on to supervise top civil servants or ministers after they graduate. This calls for an administrative toolbox in order to understand why reforms fail or why the euro is still so vulnerable. The blame is often placed on a lack of integration, while collaboration is what should be examined further.”
Graduates should know how national structures and European networks function, what Member States can do and what is expected of them. “And you have to be able to determine what works and what doesn’t, not only in our country but in other Member States as well. This calls for a solid administrative understanding of the EU.”
Success stories
And the aforementioned identity crisis? How do we escape that? For Schout, it's all about ownership. “The Commission tends to take on more and more tasks, but centralisation doesn't work in a complex organisation like the EU. We have to reassign many of the supervisory tasks to the Member States themselves. That’s where the ownership should lie. The Commission should then check whether the supervisory structures in the Member States are correct. The Member States should also monitor each other. Here, too, it’s about collaboration instead of integration. It is precisely this collaboration that has brought about past successes in, for example, aviation and competition policy.”
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