Les clivages sociaux en Europe autour de la construction politique européenne en 2005-2010: l’Europe des élites contre l’État-Nation des classes populaires?

Abstract

The rejection of the European Constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005 has brought about an unprecedented crisis for European integration, with strong risks of regression into nationalism and xenophobia. However, in a paradoxical way, that crisis has not prevented the building of a political Europe - even a federal Europe - because it has hampered intergovernmental negotiations more than the functioning of European institutions. Moreover, social polarisation means that Europhiles in the élites have been able to press for institutional solutions culminating in the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, a landmark in the consolidation of the European Union.