... actors in European integration and only integrate to pursue their national interests (security, economic, etc). Integration will occur when the nation states have an interest in transferring sovereignty to a supra-national body. The concept of intergovernmentalism supports the statement 'European integration only proceeds when and as far as it is in the interests of member state governments'. Prescriptive intergovermentalism suggests that member states should be the dominant players within the European Union, and descriptive intergovenmentalism simply states that the member states are, for good or bad, the dominant actors within the Union. The contrasting integration theory is that of Neofunctionalism. This states that the evolution of integration is partly driven by European dynamics and that political integration will occur as a long-term consequence of primarily limited economic integration. Integration will have spillover effects in to different areas not only political, for example functional. The European Union is being seen ...

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