Integration through the disintegration of law? The ECB and EU constitutionalism in the crisis

Abstract

Rather than halting European integration, the euro crisis, in some ways, has accelerated it. However, it is integration of a different type, which departs significantly from the rule of law-based model of integration that traditionally burnished the European Union’s legitimacy. The crisis-induced transformation of the European Central Bank (ECB) captures this trend. Through schemes such as Outright Monetary Transactions, the Bank bolstered its capacity to stabilize the euro without having its mandate formally enlarged, thus confirming the ascendency of technocratic, and often ad hoc, governance over democratically and legally circumscribed alternatives. This article posits the ECB’s expanded and politicized role as the manifestation of a new mode of integration – integration through the disintegration of law – which inverts the court-driven integration-through-law that consolidated the single market. However, the lack of a solid legitimacy base casts doubt on the long-term sustainability of this integration mode.