Eurosceptics have always questioned it. Nationalists oppose it. Politicians fear loosing control over it. Regional integration has always sparked debate. The financial crisis, the negative effects of globalization and the friction between different cultures that are forced to interact more frequently and more deeply than at any point in our previous history has accelerated this debate. Criticism of regional integration is now more widespread than it has been since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yet the logic of regional integration is enduring and remain what powers Europe to go into the future.

Economies of scale - The regional integration of Europe allows the continent to take advantage of being an economy of scale. this simple economic theory states that by producing a larger output (more goods for more people) businesses are able to achieve lower costs per unit. This is achieved mainly because businesses that produce more are able to get longer term interest rates with banks, get bulk contracts with raw material producers, run larger marketing campaigns that reach more consumers at a lower cost per impression and invest in more efficient and modern production methods. In a disintegrated Europe without a common market the scale of these businesses are too small to take full advantage of economies of scale. That would cause a stagnating Europe with less welfare and economic stability.

Mutual dependence – Not to many decades ago, the continent of Europe taught the world word such as “World War” and “Genocide”.  The main driving force behind these horrific events was not racism or Hitler, but a Europe made up of bilateral agreements without any control mechanism or openness. This allowed suspicion, nationalism, protectionism, and, during the financial crisis of the 1930′s, isolationism. World War I was a direct result of the intricate system of bilateral agreements and alliances. World War II was possible, although not caused by, because of a disintegrated Europe where one or several nations could wage war without inflicting serious damage to their own economic foundations. An integrated Europe means that the European nations are mutually dependent and can not, under any circumstance, attack each other, and will, mutually, benefit from building up their partners rather than destroying them.

Citizens rights  - To continue down memory lane, it is little more than two decades ago that Europe was divided in two, physically, as well as ideologically. Outside the European parliament, two pieces of the Berlin wall stand as a monument over a time when the rights of a citizen were not based on their value as humans, but their passports. This reminds the people who are building Europe every day that national borders in Europe are nothing more than human inventions. The removal and build-down of all sorts of borders, whether physically, legally, ideologically or socially, in Europe, makes it  futile for national law-makers and leaders to attempt to take away their own citizens rights. Today, being a European citizen also mean that you have universal rights wherever you go in Europe. Who would have thought 25 years ago that no border would exist between Austria and the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) in 2011. Regional integration ensures this continues to be true also in the future.

Controlling globalization (“good guy”) – Globalization, and the increasing mutual dependence, also has it’s downside. In a world where more and more decisions are made across borders, mostly in a bilateral framework, and many businesses, industries and people operate in many countries at the same time, there also exists a democratic deficit. State leaders, corrupt officials, multinational corporations and criminal networks can operate more freely and increase their power at the expense of citizens, workers, women, migrants and democracy. Multi-level governance through regional integration is the only viable solution. When police can cooperate across borders, citizens can vote for international political bodies, and state leaders and public officials are bound by an international institutional framework it enables the democratic deficit to be mended and for international corporations and criminal organizations to be controlled and effectively stopped.

International positioning – Finally, there is a purely utilitarian logic behind regional integration, and it plays on the ambitions European states have for their values and interest of the international stage. The current image of the world is very much divided between the power of the USA, China, India, Brazil and Russia. States such as Italy, Norway or Bulgaria, or even nuclear states like the United Kingdom and France, have no true position here, except in certain instances where the biggest international actors finds it beneficial to use a smaller state to execute their wishes, for example when the US allowed Norway to take a leading role in the negotiations in the Middle East in the 90′s because of it’s small and uncontroversial position in the world. If the European states has any ambition of promoting their own self-interest, or even their universal values of human rights, labour rights, women’s rights, democracy and so on, they will have to integrate and back each other solidly in international arenas, such as the United Nations. Any failure to to do so would continue to diminish Europe’s role in the world at the benefit of other, less altruistic, nations.

Certainly, there are other logical arguments for an extensive regional integration in Europe, a logic that is close to all-encompassing. If you feel I have missed anything essential, feel free to leave a comment, and I assure you I will look into it.