In particular, European leaders must make three choices
about what type of political union they want. The first choice
is between a limited economic federation aimed at stabilising
the euro and a full economic federation taking on traditional
nation-state tasks such as taxation, social welfare, and
redistribution. The second choice is between a rules-based
federation with a very small margin for policy innovation
and flexibility and one with ample discretionary powers and
policy instruments. The third choice is between a political
system that relies on indirect legitimacy and is governed
mostly through intergovernmental mechanisms and one
that draws on direct legitimacy instruments and confers
ample executive authority to supranational institutions such
as the European Commission