And this leads to the third area: even where the EU succeeds in delivering its objectives, there is a sense that citizens would like to feel more in control of the process. Put another way, it is not enough for the EU to give people more control over events. People also need to feel in control of its policies.
In different ways, each of these three areas for improvement map onto the principles that Jean Monnet laid out. For example, if there are questions today about the EU’s clarity of purpose, then one answer is to be more rigorous in how we apply the principle of subsidiarity when considering future steps towards integration.