Differentiated integration and disintegration are considered key processes of the European project’s dynamics. Opt-outs and disintegration pressures are typically associated with laggards or proponents of ‘less Europe’ who do not wish to integrate further, but prefer to maintain status quo or take a step back. However, differentiation also serves the needs of champions of ‘more Europe’ who wish to move forward despite lack of unanimous support to do so. Both types of claims are constantly justified and contested as they constitute a deviation from a more traditional and uniform way of ‘doing integration’ in Europe. This article aims to deal with the differentiation/legitimation nexus in the EU and shed light on the politics of differentiation, while empirically examining legitimating and de-legitimating practices of differentiation as revealed in technocratic and populist narratives produced by major political actors in France, Poland and the United Kingdom. The article highlights flexible and complementary usages of both populist and technocratic narratives that allow to (de-)legitimate differentiation in line with domestic political agendas.

中文翻译：

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（去）合法化欧盟的差异化（去）整合：在技术官僚主义和民粹主义叙事之间

差异化整合和解体被认为是欧洲项目动态的关键过程。退出和解体压力通常与落后者或“少欧洲”的支持者有关，他们不希望进一步整合，但更愿意维持现状或退后一步。然而，差异化也满足了“更多欧洲”拥护者的需求，尽管缺乏一致支持，但他们仍希望继续前进。这两种类型的主张都不断地被证明是合理的并且受到争议，因为它们构成了对欧洲更传统和统一的“进行整合”方式的偏离。本文旨在处理欧盟的差异化/合法化关系，并阐明差异化政治，同时对法国、波兰和英国的主要政治行为者所产生的技术官僚主义和民粹主义叙事所揭示的差异化做法进行了实证研究。这篇文章强调了民粹主义和技术官僚叙事的灵活和互补用法，允许根据国内政治议程（去）合法化差异化。