The recent evolution of the European Union’s politics and policies has demonstrated that differentiation can no longer be treated as an anomaly in the integration process. This has posed a key set of questions to academics and policy-makers on whether, how much and what form of differentiation is not only compatible with but also conducive to a more effective, cohesive and democratic EU.

The conference will address these issues and will launch the project EU IDEA [3] – Integration and Differentiation for Effectiveness and Accountability. EU IDEA puts together 15 EU and extra-EU partners in a joint research and dissemination effort coordinated by IAI, staring from January 2019 and lasting for three years.

The research aims at defining the criteria – institutional, political and social – to analyse future scenarios of differentiated integration (or disintegration) and to draw up recommendations to European and national institutions.