Germany’s Position on the System Reform of the European Union in 2002–2016

This book presents the evolution of Germany’s stance on the reform of the European Union in the years 2002–2016. The objectives of the book are threefold: first, to analyse the positions of the German government and parliamentary opposition on the reform of the European Union’s political system in 2002–2009; second, to describe their stance on the system reform of the Economic and Monetary Union and the Eurozone in 2012–2016; and third, to analyse their positions on the EU immigration crisis in 2015–2016. The study employs a triangulation of a variety of qualitative methods: case-studies, analysis of official documents, literature, speeches and historic items. The result is an in-depth and multidimensional picture of the activities and positions of members of the German government and parliamentary opposition regarding the reform of the EU’s political system.