Beyond Maastricht: How to Strengthen Europe’s Sovereignty

Executive Summary

Maastricht built a Europe designed for stability, not strategy. In this study, “Beyond Maastricht: How to Strengthen Europe’s Sovereignty,” we argue that the 1992 Maastricht Treaty — reinforced by Amsterdam, Nice, and Lisbon — created institutions suited to a post–Cold War era of disinflation, liberalisation, and enlargement. Its rules-based model ensured credibility by constraining discretion: it curbed inflation, stabilised expectations, and fostered trust in shared governance.

That model no longer fits the world Europe faces. An age of war, energy dependency, and industrial rivalry demands institutions that can pool and deploy sovereignty, not just restrain it. The same mechanisms that once safeguarded stability now limit Europe’s capacity to act — leaving it reactive where competitors mobilise strategically.

Sovereignty must be built from the inside out. Military strength, industrial policy, and energy autonomy matter little without legitimate and transparent decision-making. Without a stronger sense of internal sovereignty — clear accountability and democratic authority — Europe cannot project power abroad or sustain trust at home.

Reform will require transparent bargaining. Reallocating competences across energy, finance, defence, and industry is unavoidably political. Progress depends on structured “horse-trading,” where member states openly exchange concessions to build common capacity instead of hiding behind vetoes or procedural ambiguity.

Independent expertise can make this possible. By mapping feasible deals, quantifying distributional effects, and clarifying risks, civil society and research institutions can lower the political transaction costs of reform. Transparency helps expose trade-offs, reduce distrust, and make integration more legitimate.

Key arguments

1. The Maastricht framework ensured stability but lacks strategic capacity.
   Credibility through rules no longer suffices in a world defined by shocks and rivalry.

2. Internal and external sovereignty are inseparable.
   Europe cannot project power abroad without democratic legitimacy and clarity at home.

3. Progress depends on transparent horse-trading. Only by openly negotiating trade-offs can Europe reconfigure its institutions to meet the challenges of a harsher geopolitical and economic environment.