European Union Membership: a Loss or Gain of Sovereignty?

Abstract

There is a common understanding that by joining the European Union, the acceding state loses a significant part of its sovereignty by transferring many of its national competences to the EU institutions. Even though this is true, this paper explains why young, independent states aspire to join the EU and argues that the transfer of national sovereignty – albeit significant, both qualitatively and quantitatively – is, at the same time, a huge political, economic and social gain on the side of both the acceding Member State and the EU. Additionally, the transfer of sovereignty does not imply its complete loss at the national level, as the new Member State participates in the EU decision-making process in the Council of ministers and it becomes one of the “masters of the Treaties”, jointly with all the other Member States. For these reasons, this paper suggests that EU membership is a two-way win-win process, which strengthens both the EU and national sovereignty, while changing it conceptually.

Keywords: European Union, enlargement, sovereignty, accession, EU membership