Alternative forms of differentiation

Within the EU, differentiation is seen as a way to cope with diversity among member states. Among the various possible ways to differentiate between member states, most attention has gone to forms of differentiated integration, in which some member states are excluded from an EU-level arrangement (through opt-outs) or a subset of member states moves forward without participation of all (enhanced cooperation). This, however, is only one form of differentiation in the EU. This brief paper discusses two alternatives which have attracted less attention but are potentially valuable alternatives or complements to differentiated integration: flexible implementation and experimentalist governance. Under flexible implementation, member states are given room to make their own choices during the implementation of EU law and policy arrangement. Experimentalist governance is an arrangement in which policies are developed in an iterative process in which both the policy itself and its implementation are gradually improved through ‘learning from difference.