INTEGRATION PROCESSES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: CURRENT STATE AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Summary. The purpose of the article is to analyze the course of integration processes in the European Union and determine their most likely trends. The methodological foundations of the research are the use of an analytical approach and usage the possibilities of a synergistic development concept. Scientific novelty. In the modern world supranational entities play an important role, the most successful of which was traditionally considered the European Union. But today it is impossible to deny the existence of disintegration processes that are increasingly gaining strength. The concept of “cluster reintegration” is considered as a probable optimal option for overcoming centrifugal tendencies, which we propose to define as the restarting of the integration processes of the system under the condition of its deatomization. Conclusions. The excessive heterogeneity of the European Union is not the only one, but one of the most urgent, which makes it difficult for it to function as an integral system. Since today’s Europe is largely differentiated, it seems appropriate not to pan-European integration of individual states, but to create several internally homogeneous associations-clusters at the first stage. A variety of factors from geographical location to common economic and political interests can be the basis of regional integration for European countries. The development of regional integration in the form of creating clusters as internally ordered and homogeneous state associations, at first glance, may indicate an increase in Centrifugal trends. But on the other hand, reducing the number of subjects means reducing the diversity of vectors, which will certainly facilitate consistency in their further interaction and will be the first step to overcome the internal differentiation of the European Community.