The Maastricht paradox. The different economic and political models for the inclusive future of the EU

The existential crisis of the European integration project constitutes the main challenge that the Community must face in its most immediate future, since it stands as a threat to the continuity of the system established since the founding Treaty of Rome (1957). The three crises that occurred during the first years of the 21st century, see the great economic crisis of 2008, the global pandemic of Covid-19 and the current intervention of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, are constantly testing the firmness of the foundations and values on which the Community has been built during all these years. This doctoral thesis aims to be an academic contribution to the open debate in community societies about where the evolution of the European integration project should go in the coming years. In order to achieve this objective, the investigation goes back to the origins of the integration process and advances in the time line to the present day, thereby analyzing the possible causes that could be found behind the current existential crisis. In turn, later, the research carefully studies the multiple effects that existential problems are generating in the Member States in recent years, such as the increase in social support in favor of actors considered populists or the phenomenon of growing citizen disaffection. . Finally, this research analyzes in detail the different scenarios proposed by the European Commission in its White Paper on the future of Europe to determine which could be the best scenario that would match the new economic and sociopolitical reality that currently prevails in the Member States. . With this, what is sought is to formulate a proposal that can end the existential crisis of the Community, thus opening a new stage in the history of European integration.