Varieties of Member State capitalisms and the European economic constitution: A folly or a flexible framework? A folly or flexible framework?

The EU Member States have differently institutionalized national economies. This heterogeneity of national capitalisms presents a significant obstacle to common European rule-making as well as for the constitutional entrenchment of the rules of the integrated European economy. The European economic constitution is expected to be open, flexible and neutral towards the different national institutional models. Changes in the different Member State institutional setups are expected to be negotiated and determined in the political domain. The regulatory harmonization efforts affecting national labour markets, notably the minimum requirements laid down for working time, demonstrate that legal developments under the EU economic constitution need to observe closely the politically established boundaries of institutional convergence and the safeguards of national institutional diversity.