The European Security Vanguard? Prüm, Heiligendamm and Flexible Integration Theory

The main purpose of this paper is to better understand the political importance of the so-called G6 group that unites the Interior ministers of the six biggest EU member states. Furthermore, some of the implications of the Prüm Convention will be discussed, as the group of Prüm signatories has been compared elsewhere to the G6. However, this paper also hopes to contribute to the wider discussion of the phenomenon of ‘flexible integration’ in area of Justice and Home Affairs. Thus, after a brief historical overview of this issue, a relatively unknown theory of flexible integration will be presented, and briefly applied to the case of the Prüm Convention.

This will serve as a springboard to engage in a wider theoretical and normative discussion of different kinds of groups that cooperate on Justice and Home Affairs, while focusing in particular on the G6. In conclusion, I will agree with other commentators on these issues that the G6 and the Prüm Convention should be subjected to stringent normative criticism. However, I will also argue that the G6 rather than the Prüm Convention should generate more critical attention, and, above all, political opposition, even if the G6’s existence may have to be accepted as an expression of the power-political realities in an enlarged EU.

Download at PDF format

The European Security Vanguard? Prüm, Heiligendamm and Flexible Integration Theory