Enlargement and normative reform in the European Union: the example of flexibility

Flexibility (enhanced cooperation) has arisen in the European Union (EU) agenda as a function of recent enlargement rounds and is now one of the key issues in the construction of the EU polity with respect to diversity management. Whether enlargement has provoked normative reform in the EU, taking flexibility as an example is the focus of this article. The author argues that the flexibility case indicates that pressures of enlargement have not produced radical normative change in the EU. Tracing the evolution of enhanced cooperation from the 2000 Treaty of Nice onwards, the evidence points towards the continued existence of the traditional ‘frame’ of the integration process rather than its rejection in favour of more radical and innovative solutions to the EU's governance problems.