^aDepartment of International Relations, 152 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Correspondence: vivien schmidt, E-mail: vschmidt@bu.edu

Abstract

Member-states' ideas and discourse about the European Union's (EU's) 'liberal project' vary over whether they envision the EU project as mainly about market, community, rights, or global action. Can these be reconciled? Perhaps, but only if the EU itself is reconceptualised as a 'regional state' made up of overlapping policy communities, and reformed to allow graduated membership. This could facilitate enlargement in the periphery plus closer cooperation for an inner core, with democracy enhanced by allowing all members an institutional voice in the areas in which they participate.