, Columnist
Brussels Can Still Sweat the Small Stuff
But the big EU decisions are made in national capitals.
Big building, little power.
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The weeks since the Brexit vote have made it clear that the European Union is not going to take this opportunity to redefine itself. Rather, it appears to be settling into a status quo in which minor EU rules are observed while the big ones are often fudged.
Two cases illustrate the reality of what EU-watchers might call a growing intergovernmentalism within the union, but what really amounts to bigger nations telling the Brussels bureaucracy that they will chose which rules to follow. One has to do with the EU's limit on government budget deficits to 3 percent of gross domestic product, and the other with members' commitment to democratic values and principles.